Having shared a platform with Jeremy Corbyn several times, I have to admit I had doubts about his leadership capacity. I had none about his heart, his motives, or his intellectual capacity. My doubts were about his interpersonal skills and charisma. I had him marked down as not very sociable and even shy.
I have just watched his interview on Marr where Corbyn performed much better than I would have imagined possible. He was calm, reasonable and even wise. He came over as an attractive personality. He was, in short, excellent.
Marr did the job his masters paid him to. He started, instantly, going for the jugular on the tabloids’ favourite attack line on Jeremy Corbyn. Having stated he was going to kick off with foreign policy, did Marr then ask whether Corbyn would continue to support the Tory policy of selling weapons to the Saudis to kill children in Yemen? Would continue uncritical support of Israel and diplomatic protection of its illegal occupation?
No he went for the tabloid favourite. Would Corbyn push the button and fire nuclear missiles? It says a very great deal about our politics that it is taken by the media establishment as axiomatic that anybody who will not participate in the probable destruction of the entire human race, is the crazy person in the room. It says still more about our media, and who controls it, that this is the very first thing Marr wanted to discuss with Corbyn. Corbyn picked his way through the minefield with a tact and patience which I suspect came over well.
I look forward to Marr seeking to move his interview with Theresa May away from her preferred areas and ask her repeated questions about child poverty, social care, arms sales to terrible regimes, benefit cuts for the disabled and Tory electoral fraud. I much fear extreme disappointment awaits me.
It is extraordinary that this is the first time in nearly 40 years that the UK electorate has been offered the chance to vote for a leader not prepared to sound enthusiastic about global destruction.
It is also the first time in 40 years that a real choice in other areas has been offered the electorate in England. In just this interview things Corbyn outlined – a renationalisation of privatised areas of NHS provision, an end to selective education – are the polar opposite of the Tory Lite offer of Blairite Labour.
That is of course why Marr was so keen to skate over, interrupt and divert those areas and spend far more time and detail on highlighting Corbyn’s lack of support for aggressive militarism, with repeated questions such as “would you kill the leader of ISIS”.
I have been reading “The Candidate“, a fascinating book by Alex Nunn, detailing Corbyn’s rise to the leadership of the Labour Party and the extraordinary (if inept) efforts of the Blairite establishment to stop him. As I do not come from a Labour Party background, the Byzantine structures of the party and its relationship with organised labour are peculiar to me. But one thing comes over very clearly. The Blairites had firm control of the major areas of party machinery and in truth they still do.
The large majority of Corbyn’s MPs would love to drone kill people and have lots of nuclear buttons to push, and would happily privatise anything to any company which sponsors them. The Party also dictates Labour’s aggressive Unionist stance which is why everybody in Scotland should oppose it.
It is not just the MPs. The Boilermakers’ union are not only extreme enthusiasts for nuclear missiles, they would support mass sarin production if it employed their members. I wish Jeremy every success, but I find it impossible to say that I therefore recommend anybody to vote for John Mann or Simon Danczuk. I am not sure that success for Jeremy would be to find himself in No.10 as the hostage of Mann, Danczuk, Watson, Cooper et al.
That is the Corbyn Conundrum.
UPDATE
A number of puzzled Corbyn supporters have asked me who I am advocating they should vote for. A number of people who generally agree with me are upset I am not urging everyone to vote Labour. Well, it is your vote and you should vote for the candidate you like best. But this is my advice.
IN SCOTLAND everybody of progressive mind should vote SNP. It is the most successful anti-neoliberal option. Scotland has a very different political culture to the UK. The break-up of the UK is essential to our well-being and to shaking England out of the peculiar continuing imperialist delusions which grip it.
Westminster elections are the only First Past the Post elections in Scotland. In these elections alone, I do not think it is tactically wise of other pro-Independence parties to stand candidates against the SNP. Let’s first achieve independence, then myriad flowers will bloom.
IN WALES Plaid Cymru because it is high time you found your courage, and they have a decent radical platform. Labour or Lib Dem when its needed to stop a Tory.
IN ENGLAND Whoever has the best chance of beating the Tory. So generally Labour, very often Lib Dem, occasionally Green. With the caveat that you should not vote for Labour (or Lib Dem) candidates who are very obviously just another brand of Tory. If you are Simon Danczuk’s constituent, for example, I would vote Lib Dem there. But if people find they have to vote for a New Labour candidate as the only conceivable way of keeping out a Tory, I could understand that too. You are better placed than me to weigh individual judgements.
I hope that helps.
“I look forward to Marr seeking to move his interview with Theresa May away from her preferred areas and ask her repeated questions about child poverty, social care, arms sales to terrible regimes, benefit cuts for the disabled and Tory electoral fraud. I much fear extreme disappointment awaits me.”
Indeed. It will be very carefully scripted with questions seemingly testing and answers showing a degree of intelligence Theresa May just does not have.
Let’s face it, she has called a general election when her government had an overwhelming majority. What was the purpose? It could be because there is no time to kick out the Blairite element at constituency level whereas calling at full term there would be time to assess an MP’s fitness to serve. It could be because she is sick. It could be because the fraudulent Tory MPs currently sitting will soon be facing retribution over former election expenses. It could be because NATO is planning a war on behalf of the US and those who pull its strings. Who knows? What I do know is she had no need to call it. Hopefully it will backfire on her.
She is certainly not fit to govern and has proved it time an again. She has refused to go on television in open debate with other party leaders. Now this is something that needs very close consideration. Think about it. She will not enter into open debate. This is the woman who is calling for the country to give her a mandate she already has to debate the terms of Brexit! No wonder she will not go into open debate. I think, at least hope, the electorate can see through this.
So Tony Blair has looked at the recent political scene in Britain, and those old feelings of belonging to the House, have come flooding right back. Blair says he feels motivated to return to British politics.
But where would he stand? Who would campaign on his behalf? Would anybody other than the warmongering loonies vote for him?
Surely the Blair brand is more toxic than nuclear fall out. A lump in the throat and a tightening of the sphincter muscle must be the reaction for any despot, in the Middle East knowing that Blair is musing over a possible rebirth in British politics.
I could picture it a warmongering xenophobic party clamping down on human rights and the sick, disabled and poor, and Tony Blair as leader of Labour on the otherside pretending to oppose it all.
It’s the stuff of nightmares.
Where would he stand? Indeed. Same place as Saddam when they opened up the floor.
Wouldn’t worry too much. I think Blair gets fawned over a lot by journalists and old MP pals et al and he thinks he still has influence and a contribution to make – fond thought.
Can you really see anyone voting for him? I don’t think so. J
For anyone that missed the Marr interview of Corbyn, or maybe like me don’t have a television, it’s up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqvR00lU_8s
I’m watching it just now and am, so far, very impressed with Mr. Corbyn’s performance – first-class! Go for it England, for God’s sakes go for it!
I’ll still be voting SNP though. Independence first!
Labour spinners have been forced to step in and insist the party does support Britain’s nuclear deterrent after Jeremy Corbyn suggested he would never use it and might scrap it.
Corbyn also said he’d scrap airstrikes over Syria and pull British troops out of Nato, that were deployed to counter Russia.
However the media has shot theses claims down. It’s now common practice to shoot down or deride common sense, those opposing theses actions, want the tension with Russia and the Cold War to continue, it’s such a lucrative business that it must continue, and ergo Corbyn must be put down and demonised at all costs, and at every turn.
We’re living in a society where finanical gain for the few outweighs the needs of the many. Although I disagree with Corbyn on Scottish independence, he seems to be the rUK’s last hope of slowing down and reversing the political insanity that has infested those trapped (voluntary) in the Westminster bubble.
Read more:
Oops forgot link for the first paragraph.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4437008/Jeremy-Corbyn-rules-pressing-nuclear-button.html
“shaking England out of the peculiar continuing imperialist delusions which grip it.”
Thirty years ago, I thought this would happen in my lifetime. Now I doubt it will happen in my children’s lifetime. Britain may no longer have an empire, but so long as it continues to suck up to a country that does have one, the imperialist fantasy can continue unabated. In any case, the imperial attitude is so ingrained that it surfaces even in someone like Craig when he laments the loss of international influence that Brexit might incur. An essential part of being post-imperial is accepting and welcoming being no more internationally influential than Iceland.
But in order to accept the reality of that Bayard, those that reign over us need to be grown up, mature and rational – can’t see much evidence of those qualities in the present boss class. Jeremy shines like a beacon on a dark night.
The English political parties are living in a time warp, On the one hand they want to portray themselves as a modern progressive democracy, On the other hand they are prisoners of history and shall remain stuck in
what is clearly becoming a political no-mans land. It is English Politics which has to change, the electorate have to eventually recognise that the old Union is finished and a completely new relationship has to be forged
with England’s neighbours, plus its own regions. A prerequesate has to be the acceptance of a written constitution, a recognition that the Royal Family is no longer a relevant institution, plus the need to break the link between the Church & State and the abolishion of the House of Lords, and the accepting of a Federal
System of Government.
there is no Boilermakers union any more, only the GMB, and believe me it would be very difficult to find someone there who would know what a boilermaker is.
A whisky shot in a beer.yone knows that An
Will RobG be now talking about rigged and fake elections?
Robbie wasn’t the earth supposed to blow up on Easter Sunday?
They’re calling it as Macron – Le Pen.
This is so close (all four top contenders are within a few percentage points of each other) that I’d advise people to wait until the official results come through.
I really cannot understand how any French voter could be confused into voting for an ex-banker?
A Rothschild banker.
Some code in this FT piece.
‘Mr Macron shrugged off the warnings and learnt the ropes of debt restructuring and mergers and acquisitions, earning €2.9m and a nickname — “the Mozart of finance” — for his role advising Nestlé on its $12bn acquisition of a unit of Pfizer in 2012. At Rothschild he found himself at the heart of French business intrigues, acquiring the codes and jargon of a world where careers largely depend on having attended the right elite university.’
Emmanuel Macron’s Rothschild years make him an easy election target
Stint at investment bank leaves centrist candidate vulnerable in French campaign
https://www.ft.com/content/9bd62502-12cf-11e7-b0c1-37e417ee6c76
…an ex-banker who was one of Hollande’s cabinet ministers and who is supported by the right wing cabal which brought France Hollande. And is favoured by Obama.
He should not win, if the votes are not fiddled
Michael.
As opposed to voting for a far right xenophobe verging on fascist.
The banker looks the more attractive candidate next to that one.
Muted response, at concession speech, to Fillon’s support for Macron.
Should the result stand then at least French voters have a clear choice.
A clear financial choice.
Media will of course talk a lot of bollocks about centre-this, far right-that, Russian something else and anything and everything but the reality that Macron’s plan is to steal more of the French national wealth to give to corporates and bankers.
Time for the French to get mobilised.
Anyway.
Where’s Soros.
Oh look.
He’s fucking up poor old long suffering Ireland:
“Foreign funding buys undemocratic influence
The recent revelations regarding Glen’s financial governance mask a bigger problem”
http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/breda-o-brien-foreign-funding-buys-undemocratic-influence-1.3056989
I have one reason May had for calling an early election is she wants to get rid of the manifesto promise not to raise taxes. Their gross economic mismanagement has left them with A massive trillion+ debt to fill.
Just changed my Facebook and Twitter profiles to a bright blue roast chicken 😀
An interesting new poll shows that Labour have significantly reduced Tory lead in four days.
https://franglishpolitics.com/2017/04/23/labour-halve-tory-lead-in-just-4-days-new-poll-reveals/
Keep dreaming John
John Goss.
Maybe there is something in it afterall
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/uk-general-election-2017-poll-10266121
I will repeat that the result of the first round of the French presidential election still hasn’t been officially announced.
True.
Le Pen’s vote is being revised up. Now at 24.9%, beating Macron into second place.
At least according to the French Interior Ministry, spooks, and the Daily Mail.
Interesting that William Hill has stopped taking bets on Le Pen. Looking like a Macron v Le Pen runoff. Melenchon has done well on the Islamic vote.
Yeah.
They’re probably thinking 8/1 is a tad generous, for what should really only be a 2/1 Le Pen.
But they can’t spoil the show.
Or allow others to arbitrage the real odds.
The Royals did good work for Branson today. Should be worth a trip to the Caribbean and a stay on Necker Island for them.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h68W7C9tx-g/WPyWshWe8TI/AAAAAAABEJU/4TzjAsMJJd09SX43rVoMoZDy3rtSdT8mQCLcB/s1600/royals%2Blondon%2Bmarathon.jpg
And all the runners raising money for health causes to plug the gaps in an English health service being privatised by Branson who sponsors the race their running in. A joke but not in the least bit a funny one.
Well it will be Macron and Le Pen in the 2nd round in a fortnight’s time
The major defeated candidates and many of their important supporters have already recommended that those who voted for them in the 1st round should now vote for Macron in the 2nd.
I hope all readers will be as pleased to hear that as I was.
After all, we don’t want a fascist to be the next President of France, do we.
Emmanuel Macron is your new president of France.
Possibly. We will have to await the vote in the second round.
In the meantime it seems that, of those who troubled to vote, about half voted for anti-EU and anti NATO candidates. The same voters were also supporting candidates pledged not to, what is jokingly called, “reform” the basic laws related to working hours, wages, holiday entitlements and other employee protections.
If Anon1’s (and Obama and Hollande’s) preferred candidate does indeed win he is going to have his hands full persuading the people to submit to extreme neo-liberal policies, with a lot of warmongering thrown in for relish, at the behest of a former executive of the House of Rothschild.
Everyone rallies round now to vote against Le Pen. Macron is as good as in.
Who rallies around to vote against Le Pen? Ah yes Goldman Sachs and the ECB.
Goldman have spoken “We expect the ECB to maintain its existing refinancing facilities (namely the fixed rate full allotment (FRFA) and the emergency liquidity provision (ELA) via the Bank of France) in the coming weeks to sustain market functioning and continuity of pricing in the systemically relevant market segments”
So there we have it the fix is in via Goldman orders – who cares about voters.
Yeah.
Cut out the middle man.
Put the Rothschild banker straight into the presidency itself.
That’s how desperate they are, knowing that the people are onto the Socialist and republican fraud.
And, given the slaughter of the two main parties, why would anyone expect that their advice to vote for the banker candidate would be heeded by the French people.
The reason both banker parties, Socialist and Republican lost, is because of their pro-banker policies.
Were it not for the media smears and banker-funded opposition, Le Pen would walk it.
Anyway, it’s so mysogynistic not to vote for her.
Innit.
I’m sure Hillary and feminists of the world shall unite behind Le Pen.
I’m amused that you’re ignoring the recent lesson from the US. Short memory.
What’s lesson’s that?
Its really the same conundrum the French are faced with, either to vote for a Bernard Henri Levy puppet or for Le Pen. Really the decision is very simple, vote against the Rev 2:9 mob, epitomised by the crowd at this blog who would kill to for a seat on the sofa overlooking Gaza.
I’m inclined to think this whole election is actually about getting rid of Corbyn and has little directly to do with Brexit. The elite (who are almost visibly pulling May’s strings) want a stooge Labour leader who will toe the line on foreign policy, and probably shift the political agenda even further to the right.
The best policy, as Craig says, is to vote in your constituency of the person most likely to defeat the Conservative candidate, based on the 2015 results. In my case it is Labour. The result may be messy – but it has to be an infinitely better prospect than five more years of May’s ‘strong and stable leadership’. (Which no doubt will be anything but, in any case.)
David Milliband has finished his training under kissinger in the US? I for one will be voting Labour for the same reason you’ve elucidated above.
Tom-considering the thousand trolls involved after each and every Corbyn piece ever seen in both the Grimnian and Dumbdependent for more than 12 months now, I fear you may well be right. ‘Strong and stable purpose’ could indicate living in horse-sh*t for 50 years in another possible interpretation.
Thierry Meyssan comes to extraordinary conclusion that the Anglo-Saxons USUKIS are stabbing France – in the front:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article196085.html
” It is absurd to believe that al-Qaïda and Daesh could be in possession of so much money and weaponry without the support of major states. It is absurd to believe that France could have participated in the remodelling operations in the « Greater Middle East » without suffering the counter-attacks. It is absurd to believe that it will be easy to fight international terrorism when it is commanded by our own NATO allies.”
Jeremy Corbyn does not give the appearance of a man who is being directed by MI6. Nor does Craig. Of course both might be fully paid-up members and my wife could be Habbabkuk after a plastic surgery re-build under the surgeons’ knife. The beautiful thing about Thierry Meyssan is that he makes it crystal clear and obvious who the ” elite ” are and how they have used Islamists for 200 years to achieve their colonial plans. We are a small country with limited resources that exercises enourmous influence on distant countries by promising miscreants and tyrants power in exchange for other assets which we control but which are not in our gift to give.
The ” elite ” are not “strong and stable”, They are divisive, and destabilising as much as their capacity enables them to shake the foundations of world peace. This election will be won by Jeremy Corbyn because most people now understand that in addition to being divisive and destabilising, the elite are now desperate to add to their acquisition from the USSR of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and then former colonies of the USSR in Central Asia.
If it had not been for Russia pinning down the USUKIS armies of Al Qaida into bunkers in Syria, and then dropping bunker busting bombs on them, USUKIS would now be in control of Syria. As it is USUKIS are now under observation through the spy hole in the door of the lunatic asylum. Jeremy Corbyn has by definition a link to Russia and China’s strong and stabilising power in Real Politik. You can vote for the friends of the lunatics if you wish.
I think that you may well be right. The only threat is that the English people might wake up- all the rest is cheap politics.
The possibility of a socialist, however mild, being elected is what worries the Establishment, which is why they have acted to preserve their Fifth Column, and insurance policy, the Blairites from the wrath of the Constituency members.
Giyane thinks that the Fifth Column will split away but it will never do that while it controls so much of the party apparatus.
Corbyn is a real Labour loyalist who feels about the Party the way that Blair, Mandelson and Watson feel about their bank accounts and properties. He will never do anything to risk breaking it. And that is why he will probably end up as George Lansbury did.
Corbyn was ok. I thought he was confident in the leadership debate last year. Of course how one performs on TV shouldn’t be so important but it is. Corbyn still a bit closed physically, but he shouldn’t be too competent on telly at this stage because if he does Theresa is going to keep running s ared scared. Head to head TV debate could be v interesting.
Labour still in favour of Trident despite Jeremy Corbyn’s promised defence review. Even if Corbyn was PM, the scrapping of Trident is one policy he’d never get through Westminster. The only way for Scotland to get rid of nuclear weapons imposed on us by our neighbour is through independence.
Craig tweets
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/856102896554962944
Cameron called the EU ref with Leave at 35%. SNP landslides or indy majorities in opinion polls are not needed for indyref2. There is a majority in the Scottish Parliament for an independence referendum and that’s all there is to it.
Macron should win. He does look a bit of a tube, but at least he favours the EU project which is so important to the stability of Europe.
The EU project is the means through which Europe is being destabilized.
My guess is that before the general election the Blue Blairites will split off from Corbyn and field their New Labour candidates under a new banner. That will put Corbyn as Melenchon, Blue Blairites as Macron, Cameron as Fillon and May as Le Pen. Cameron like Fillon has already shot himself. May is going to leave her bullet, the far right wing hard Brexit, in, until after the election like Le Pen.
50% of the voting electorate want soft Brexit and an end to illegal war. The BBC has been rushing round the country trying to get Labour supporters to say that they don’t trust Corbyn into their microphones.In reality most voters don’t trust either the Centrites i.e. Blairites or the absent Cameron on the issue of illegal wars.
Corbyn ticks the boxes for most of the 50% who voted Remain.
For the 50% who are staunch Tories or racists, there is now a total vacuum compared to the last general election. Boris Johnson and Theresa May are away with the fairies when it comes to negotiating a deal with the EU or negotiating with the increasingly irrational whims of the POTUS Trump. Middle Tory England is disgusted that Cameron gambled, like Bullingdon oaf that he is, on business’s golden joker card of free Trade.
If the disgusted part of middle England thinks they are more likely to get a soft Brexit with Corbyn, they will vote for him. The racists and padded suit little Englanders will just have to mark their crosses for Mad May and Bogieman BoJo with their teeth and wait for their nappies to be changed.
My mistake: Corbyn ticks the boxes for most of the 50% who voted LEAVE.
These voters mostly wanted to kick Cameron in the balls for illegally getting into power through teaming with criminal Nick Clegg and forging the 2015 election. I get confused between Leavers and Remainers because most Leavers wanted to leave Tory rule, not leave the EU.
It would be interesting to learn how and why it is “illegal” for two UK political parties to govern in coalition and the nature of Mr Clegg’s “criminality” (ie what law(s) he has broken).
Unlike May, Mme. Le Pen is not a stooge for the American empire. You just have look at the extremely unfavorable treatment the Washington Post gives her.
Poor old party pooper Corbyn does not want to press the button and let everything go off with a BANG….on second thoughts I think I agree with Craig, the old white beard may well be right….
And New Labour Home Secretaries are famous for accepting bungs for getting immigrants through the Border Agency… or whatever it’s called these days.
The ‘would you drone strike the ISIS leader’ question isn’t that theoretical. At the start of the illegal Iraq war in 2003 there was a supposed decapitation strike against Saddam Hussein. I think it hit a restaurant and presumably killed a number of innocent people.
Also heard the war criminal Blair on BBC radio 4’s world at one (23/4/17), who presumably agreed with said decapitation strike. The interview was the usual feed of dolly drop questions. Strangely, Blair was never asked about how much J P Morgan was paying him to try and reverse the Brexit vote.
Why would MI6 want to drone-strike Shimon Elliot, Israeli citizen, while having a cup of tea with Senator John McUptohisfatneckcriminalCain ? ” Do have another scone , Senator, Who’s counting. You’ve already had three”
Did they ask Tony Blair, if he knew how many homes his family owned?
New Labour—things only got worse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmRBAB-ehKs
New Labour swept into office 20 years ago this week.
Nick Clark explains how the party is still being punished today for Blair’s attempts to sideline the working class
https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/44475/New+Labour+things+only+got+worse
Choreography on Murdoch’s Sky News.
From their website, timed 7.35am today
Michael Fallon to slam Jeremy Corbyn on defence plans
As the first full week of election campaigning begins, the Labour leader’s stance on Trident is set to come under attack.
http://news.sky.com/story/michael-fallon-to-slam-jeremy-corbyn-on-defence-plans-10848875
Five minutes later, up pops Fallon to dish some vile slurs on Jeremy and Labour. They had him on for a good five minutes and fed him the right questions.
Fallon – the Tory partei’s very own Mr Nasty or should I say Sir Nasty. Cameron gave the s**t a knighthood.
Earlier the BBC were quoting ex CCGS General Lord Richards of Herstmonceux LOL on the same tack. The attack dogs are off the leash.
The scraps the Tories throw to the deluded ‘middle classes’ at elections, such as grammar schools, tax cuts and pension guarantees (most of which never happens), are all a smokescreen for their real purpose – following American orders on foreign policy and allowing our forces to be used for their ends in the Middle East. Fallon, the military chiefs, Sky and the rest get so worked up about Corbyn because he challenges their self-serving lies and poses a threat to their American backers. They have to portray Corbyn as some kind of reckless traitor, and ensure he is defeated, because otherwise their own betrayal of the British people to the Americans would be exposed.
i heard him as well, every time this warmonger comes on I get palpitations of the cortex, the man is a liability and a criminal for his use of unregulated illegal and indiscriminate weapon systems that have killed many civilians from great height.
I was listening too – such arrogance and pomposity; I wonder if folk like him have any idea of how they sound. I noticed the “hard” questioning over Trident and the offence policy didn’t go on for too long though before NR moved on to a less awkward topic.
I was sorry to see your advice was the same as Tony Blair’s, Craig. But whether I vote tactically or not rather depends on what I see this election being about.
Is it about May gaining the time and support she needs to even think of exiting the EU? Here, I’m conflicted, as I voted Leave, as an anti-globalist, and however Brexit is achieved, it affirms my nation’s (whether you are in it or not) identity as a free agent. Paradoxically, in that case, I have to swallow slightly less hatred than I feel for the ‘centralist’ neocon Blair and vote Tory. That decision will be even easier if Blair, as he is threatening to, re-enters UK politics.
Or is it about continuing the disgraceful attack on public services and achieving the Tory dream of selling the (increasingly polluted) air we breathe to an offshore hedge fund? Of course it is, as well. But they’re not alone in this.
The legacy of Blair/Brown’s PFI scam remains with us, to the detriment of the NHS. The education system in England was reorganised by Blair for the benefit of private educators, and is now almost irrevocably fucked-up. It was Blair who admitted an unmanaged and unmonitored surge of immigrants, who whatever advantages they may posess over native-born workers, are not wanted by a large section of the English population.The Blairite wing of Labour is as enthusiastically prepared to sell out to its business advisors as Blair himself ever was (and is), much as they predictably deny it right now.
Now, If Corbyn wants to implement his egalitarian policies, he needs a landslide majority, and he needs to clear out the corporate shills in Labour too. That’s not going to happen. Not until the Tories have done their worst for a few more years, and more of the public wakes up to what is being done to it.
The Tories are set to win, and to win overwhelmingly. They are not going to be looking for a coalition government – although the most constructive and inclusive way to negotiate Brexit might be just that – and they are going to win, not on the issues facing us, but on a massive PR campaign rubbishing Corbyn’s Socialism. It’s unlikely to make much difference to the size of the majority if I vote tactically.
My priorities are these (not in order – roughly equal importance)
1. Brexit
2. The environment
3. Social justice
Voting Labour will not affect (1) as the Tories will get in anyway
Voting Labour on the grounds of (2) will at least ensure that pro-environment voices are represented in Parliament, in rather greater numbers than the Greens.
Voting Labour on the grounds of (3) may return some known toerags to their seats, but it will also confirm some good men in theirs. Therefore, in England:
VOTE LABOUR.
(and do what you like in Scotland.)
“and do what you like in Scotland”
Does that mean you agree there should be a second independence referendum?
We could hold it on the same day as a second Brexit referendum.
And if we don’t like the result of the General Election we could hold another one a fortnight later.
Scotland did hold a brexit referendum and voted by a margin of 24% to remain. You keep telling us you were one of those Scottish remain voters. Did you therefore like that result? And if the answer’ yes why shouldn’t it be allowed to stand and Scotland be given the chance of remaining.
I know what your reply will be. The UK voted to leave. The UK voted to leave.
In that case you must think Scotland is just a historic name on a map of Britain and our wishes, aspirations and culture can be overridden from London anytime, everytime.
Just speculating here.
I think that Westminster has a bit of a clue where the world is heading.
I say this because I know they’ve a bit of expertise in where the world is heading kinda stuff.
I mean, they used to write the script.
Anyway.
Methinks there’s big tectonic shifts a happenin.
All over everywhere.
More a time for a huddlin and a cuddlin than venturing alone into the cold blue yonder.
Is what I’m thinking.
But yeah.
Haven’t seen the Intel.
So don’t know for sure.
Herbie
Leaving the single market is heading into the cold blue yonder.
Now is not the time for now is not the time.
“Leaving the single market is heading into the cold blue yonder.”
Not really.
Nah.
London has access to many markets abroad, and they’re probably thinking that their home market is quite attractive to EU members, whether in or out.
Not the same thing at all.
Scotland just doesn’t have the same clout, and seems very dependent on an EU which itself is in a state of turmoil.
“Scotland did hold a brexit referendum ”
No they didn’t.
Britain held a Brexit referendum.
No. I was talking about the election we are about to have, not the referendum you have not yet got. Please try to understand other peoples’ comments before inserting propaganda. Thank you.
It requires courage to defy the warmongers and the fact Corbyn does so with a calm and carry on approach shows he has the strength for leadership. He’s less emotional than some would like, but that’s the good old British stiff upper lip for you and he’s feared by the deep state as he may casually reveal the truth behind their fake news.
I am worried that Corbyn would join the SNP which would allow Scotish MPs to interfere in English politics for their own ends. That is if they don’t get a majority. That for me is unacceptable.
Corbyn would have to be a raving nutter to have anything to do with the S. N. P.
I see your point, Michael. What’s unacceptable for me is English MPs interfering in Scottish politics for their own ends. That old East Lothian question just won’t go away. Maybe EVEL and Sewell should actually be written into law rather than be conventions that can be interpreted, ignored or manipulated to suit political expediency and advantage.