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UK PoliGAF |OT2| - We Blue Ourselves

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D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
my god corbyn just came out better in a debate on kosovo

jesus christ why is someone not throwing in the white towel
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
the audience is grilling the moderator on Corbyn's behalf

the revolution has begun
 
Latest cover piece from the Spectator is about Corbyn as leader by James Forsyth - always a good guy to listen to if you want the inside scoop on the Tories. Apparently they're keeping their powder dry, and it's not all gonna drop this month, but rather they'll let Jezza settle in before slowly oozes out their bucket of shit on his head.

He also pointed out the thing I mentioned before, about how ambitious young PLP members aren't going to want to be in his cabinet or even go out to bat for them in the media because they'll get asked "Do you want Corbyn to be Prime Minister?" And it's basically a "have you stopped beating your wife" style question.
 
Latest cover piece from the Spectator is about Corbyn as leader by James Forsyth - always a good guy to listen to if you want the inside scoop on the Tories. Apparently they're keeping their powder dry, and it's not all gonna drop this month, but rather they'll let Jezza settle in before slowly oozes out their bucket of shit on his head.

He also pointed out the thing I mentioned before, about how ambitious young PLP members aren't going to want to be in his cabinet or even go out to bat for them in the media because they'll get asked "Do you want Corbyn to be Prime Minister?" And it's basically a "have you stopped beating your wife" style question.

Sure the tories have little to gain by slinging mud now. Not sure how much harm that will do though, depends on the type of mud I guess.
 

Uzzy

Member
Corbyn winning a debate on Kosovo just shows how utterly pathetic the rest of the candidates are. Dismal stuff.

Corbyn's the only candidate with anything at all going for him.
 
Sure the tories have little to gain by slinging mud now. Not sure how much harm that will do though, depends on the type of mud I guess.

The relevant passage from the piece is...

Labour lost the last election because the voters didn’t trust the party with their money and the nation’s finances. Corbynomics (and his proposed ‘people’s quantitative easing’) is not the answer. Then there is Corbyn’s long list of dubious statements and associations. One of the Tories involved in doing the opposition research on Corbyn says gleefully, ‘There’s just so much. Calling Osama bin Laden’s death a “tragedy” is just the start.’ Indeed, what should worry Labour is how silent the Tories have been during this leadership contest. When I asked one if they would throw the book at him straight away if he wins, I was told no. The plan is to wait until he is firmly ensconced before doing so.

Not too many details. And the bit I mentioned before...

Moreover, a Corbyn victory would pose an immediate dilemma for any ambitious Labour MP. Anyone who served under him would be tainted. They would be asked in every interview if they wanted Corbyn to be Prime Minister; if they said yes, then that clip would be used endlessly against them come their own time at the top. But getting rid of him would be just as hard. Labour MPs who openly opposed Corbyn would find themselves in a battle to hold on to their own constituencies. Internal warfare would ensue. It would be back to the 1980s in more ways than one for Labour. It is easy to see why so many Tories are rubbing their hands in glee. One source in No. 10 says, ‘We wouldn’t have dared script it like this, people just wouldn’t have believed it.’ Corbyn as leader would mean that the next election is the Tories’ to lose, and they would need to make an epoch–defining mistake to blow it. All of a sudden, the Tories have gone from fearing that they would never win outright again to being confident of at least a decade of majority rule. One secretary of state predicts that in 2020 the electorate ‘will form their judgment even more decisively than before.’

And the conclusion is...

As the last general election so spectacularly demonstrated, pollsters and bookmakers can get it horribly wrong. Labour’s election is not over. Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper may yet win — but if they do, the leadership that resulted would probably be a mere footnote in history: a holding period in which some of the more talented younger Labour figures could gain the experience and the stature necessary to lead. Should Corbyn win, the shockwaves will be felt for decades.

Corbyn’s supporters are right about one thing: you can change politics without winning a general election. If he becomes leader, his time in charge would change both the Labour and Conservative parties. It would confirm that May 2015 marked the beginning of a new era of Tory majority rule. A Labour party that is prepared to elect Corbyn as leader is a party that has consigned itself to not being in power for a very long time.

woof
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Corbyn winning a debate on Kosovo just shows how utterly pathetic the rest of the candidates are. Dismal stuff.

Corbyn's the only candidate with anything at all going for him.

basically. Corbyn's record on Kosovo is dreadful, one of his worst stances and one of the worst stances by any major candidate. If you can't land a blow on him there, you shouldn't be in politics.
 

cabot

Member
So what do we think a Corbyn Labour leadership, should it happen, will mean for the SNP.

Not specifically Corbyn, but I think the SNP could take a major hit on popularity based on next year's Scottish elections.

I'm predicting going for a second referendum is going to be a problematic move.

It's had a pretty nasty fallout because most of the young and the diehards are still wanting another referendum in a couple of years and I've seen a lot of salt and extreme negativity coming from them. I think a lot of the more moderate people have seen the divides the outcome has caused, and would like to avoid bringing it all up again so soon.

The fact the oil money has sort of went down the drain has to be factored in as well.

Maybe forcing fiscal autonomy for a few years would win a lot of people round but that doesn't seem to be the card the SNP want to play.

Someone quote me in a year and bask in how wrong I'll be. Thank goodness I'm not a betting man!
 

ruttyboy

Member
Or perhaps, if Corbyn was actually an opposition leader he'd be given the chance to counter Cameron without the media being able to lie about what he's saying as his actual full speech from PM's Qs would be aired?

Maybe people might, upon hearing an alternative, one with actual convictions, decide they've had enough of bland slimy c**ts.

I find it very ironic that an article prognosticating such a bleak future would in the same breath point out how 'pollsters and bookmakers can get it horribly wrong'...
 

kmag

Member
Not specifically Corbyn, but I think the SNP could take a major hit on popularity based on next year's Scottish elections.

I'm predicting going for a second referendum is going to be a problematic move.

It's had a pretty nasty fallout because most of the young and the diehards are still wanting another referendum in a couple of years and I've seen a lot of salt and extreme negativity coming from them. I think a lot of the more moderate people have seen the divides the outcome has caused, and would like to avoid bringing it all up again so soon.

The fact the oil money has sort of went down the drain has to be factored in as well.

Maybe forcing fiscal autonomy for a few years would win a lot of people round but that doesn't seem to be the card the SNP want to play.

Someone quote me in a year and bask in how wrong I'll be. Thank goodness I'm not a betting man!

All polling suggests that the SNP will increase their majority mainly at the expense of Labour and the Lib Dems, with the Greens looking likely to increase their representation as well.
 

cabot

Member
Forgive me if I don't trust polling right now.

Still though, kmag, I want you to quote me when I'm wrong so I can learn from this.
 
Or perhaps, if Corbyn was actually an opposition leader he'd be given the chance to counter Cameron without the media being able to lie about what he's saying as his actual full speech from PM's Qs would be aired?

Maybe people might, upon hearing an alternative, one with actual convictions, decide they've had enough of bland slimy c**ts.

I find it very ironic that an article prognosticating such a bleak future would in the same breath point out how 'pollsters and bookmakers can get it horribly wrong'...

Yeah maybe, except his actual stance on a lot of things will repel people from him too.

Forgive me if I don't trust polling right now.

Still though, kmag, I want you to quote me when I'm wrong so I can learn from this.


Tbf though even Sky said it's unscientific - it was literally a viewing poll so it doesn't discriminate in any way which, in polling, is a pretty bad thing.
 

Jezbollah

Member
What are you basing that on? As far as I can tell he represents a 'real alternative' which people have been asking for for 20 years.

Define "people". Are these those members of the Labour party or those who Labour failed to attract the vote for in the last election? The last time this country got swelled up in "change" euphoria was back in 1997. And Labour seems dead set on purging those same people from their own party once Corbyn is finally elected.
 
What are you basing that on? As far as I can tell he represents a 'real alternative' which people have been asking for for 20 years.

I'm primarily basing it on the fact that in the last 40 years the only time we haven't had a Tory PM was when people voted for Tony Blair. Where have these "people" been? Do they all live in Brighton? And how many are there?

There's a huge difference between a Labour leadership contest - which Corbyn may well storm, though I think it'll be a little tighter than some people think - and winning a General Election. What's gonna happen is Corbyn will win the leadership, and literally whatever happens will be put down to a right-wing media conspiracy, allowing his supporters to carry on saying "we were right, we were right". Meanwhile, the Tories keep cutting. Viva la Corbyn.
 

ruttyboy

Member
Define "people". Are these those members of the Labour party or those who Labour failed to attract the vote for in the last election? The last time this country got swelled up in "change" euphoria was back in 1997. And Labour seems dead set on purging those same people from their own party once Corbyn is finally elected.

People = myself and everyone I know well enough to know their politcal view.

Why would the next 'change euphoria' be for a change to what we already have?

I'm primarily basing it on the fact that in the last 40 years the only time we haven't had a Tory PM was when people voted for Tony Blair. Where have these "people" been? Do they all live in Brighton? And how many are there?

There's a huge difference between a Labour leadership contest - which Corbyn may well storm, though I think it'll be a little tighter than some people think - and winning a General Election. What's gonna happen is Corbyn will win the leadership, and literally whatever happens will be put down to a right-wing media conspiracy, allowing his supporters to carry on saying "we were right, we were right". Meanwhile, the Tories keep cutting. Viva la Corbyn.

Perhaps Tony was elected because people mistakenly thought he was left-wing (or left leaning at least), even when it became clear he wasn't, he was still preferred to the alternative.

When the effects of the cuts start to become undeniably clear, people might start thinking a left of centre government might not be such a bad idea afterall?

Where does this idea come from that if you're left-wing you must be a hippy? I feel that the immigration crisis has shown the Tory's true colours up a little bit, when it takes pictures of dead children before you show compassion for other humans surely it's not that the left wing are hippies, it's that the right wing are selfish?
 

Kuros

Member
People = myself and everyone I know well enough to know their politcal view.

Why would the next 'change euphoria' be for a change to what we already have?



Perhaps Tony was elected because people mistakenly thought he was left-wing (or left leaning at least), even when it became clear he wasn't, he was still preferred to the alternative.

When the effects of the cuts start to become undeniably clear, people might start thinking a left of centre government might not be such a bad idea afterall?

Where does this idea come from that if you're left-wing you must be a hippy? I feel that the immigration crisis has shown the Tory's true colours up a little bit, when it takes pictures of dead children before you show compassion for other humans surely it's not that the left wing are hippies, it's that the right wing are selfish?

He was elected because from the very start of his leadership he deliberately started moving away from the left of the party (removing clause 4 etc) he like everyone else knew that they simply couldn't win an election without middle England.
 
People = myself and everyone I know well enough to know their politcal view.

I think that's a dangerous starting position, no? "This is what my friends think."

Perhaps Tony was elected because people mistakenly thought he was left-wing (or left leaning at least), even when it became clear he wasn't, he was still preferred to the alternative.

Yeah, maybe - having passed up James Callaghan, Michael Foot and then Neil Kinnock (twice), they thought "Hey, this guy who just cut Clause IV up on stage at the Labour Party conference - we finally have a left wing candidate we can get behind!" He then proceded to win 3 elections, including one after a disastrously unpopular war in Iraq. He then left and, when presented with Gordon Brown, David "We can't go on like this, I'll cut the deficit" Cameron and Nick "Swingeing Cuts" Clegg, voted for a coalition of the latter two. Maybe all this time, people just wanted someone to enforce wage ceilings.

When the effects of the cuts start to become undeniably clear, people might start thinking a left of centre government might not be such a bad idea afterall?

Well between 2010 and 2015, the electorate shifted away from Labour and towards the Conservatives. How long do we need to wait for this breaking point to occur?

Where does this idea come from that if you're left-wing you must be a hippy? I feel that the immigration crisis has shown the Tory's true colours up a little bit, when it takes pictures of dead children before you show compassion for other humans surely it's not that the left wing are hippies, it's that the right wing are selfish?

Uhh, I dunno - who has mentioned hippies?

Anyway, this immigration crisis is a bit of a red herring imo. It's a perfect encapsulation, I think, of what makes certain aspects of the left's rhetoric so silly. As Philip Collins once said...

Conjugate after me the verb “to be on the Left”:

I care You don’t He is out to get me ideologically.

Bang your pots and pans together and make like a suffragette.

It's not enough to just make an argument. To engage with the fact that only around 7% of the refugees have headed to Europe with the > 90% of others staying in the immediate surroundings (Lebanon etc), and that the UK spends significantly more than every other European country in the supply and maintenence of the refugee accomodation in these places, supplying clean water and food and whatnot, or to acknowledge that this is a solution and response, even if I disagree. It's not enough to tackle the current response and explain why I think an alternative is better. Nope - what's required is the application of emotion. You think your way is better than my way? Well then you must be selfish. Your decisions must be due to a lack of compassion.

Now personally I think we should be doing way, way more to accomodate refugees, and not because of our history in the region but because there are people dying and we can help, so we should. This also isn't a problem that's going away any time soon, so the camps in Lebanon and the surrounding area have an important but limited role in providing a solution. But do you see what I did there? I engaged with the argument and explained why I thought the alternative was better, without calling anyone selfish or lacking in compassion. I didn't use a photo of a dead kid to beat an opponent and I didn't assume that my position was morally superior to the alternative.

You'll also notice that my politicial analysis above is based primarily on past election results based on the choices at the time, not what my mates think.
 
Well between 2010 and 2015, the electorate shifted away from Labour and towards the Conservatives. How long do we need to wait for this breaking point to occur?

Labour got 740k more votes under Milliband than Brown, while Cameron only got 630k more votes between 2010 and 2015. That's not a shift away from Labour to the Conservatives at all. A massive problem with electoral system, yes, but that does not indicate that the electorate moved away from Labour to the Tories.

Also Ed was only 200k votes away from Blair's last election. So you know. I think that more proves how shite the Tories were in 2005 than anything to do with Blair.
 

ruttyboy

Member
I think that's a dangerous starting position, no? "This is what my friends think."



Yeah, maybe - having passed up James Callaghan, Michael Foot and then Neil Kinnock (twice), they thought "Hey, this guy who just cut Clause IV up on stage at the Labour Party conference - we finally have a left wing candidate we can get behind!" He then proceded to win 3 elections, including one after a disastrously unpopular war in Iraq. He then left and, when presented with Gordon Brown, David "We can't go on like this, I'll cut the deficit" Cameron and Nick "Swingeing Cuts" Clegg, voted for a coalition of the latter two. Maybe all this time, people just wanted someone to enforce wage ceilings.



Well between 2010 and 2015, the electorate shifted away from Labour and towards the Conservatives. How long do we need to wait for this breaking point to occur?



Uhh, I dunno - who has mentioned hippies?

Anyway, this immigration crisis is a bit of a red herring imo. It's a perfect encapsulation, I think, of what makes certain aspects of the left's rhetoric so silly. As Philip Collins once said...



It's not enough to just make an argument. To engage with the fact that only around 7% of the refugees have headed to Europe with the > 90% of others staying in the immediate surroundings (Lebanon etc), and that the UK spends significantly more than every other European country in the supply and maintenence of the refugee accomodation in these places, supplying clean water and food and whatnot, or to acknowledge that this is a solution and response, even if I disagree. It's not enough to tackle the current response and explain why I think an alternative is better. Nope - what's required is the application of emotion. You think your way is better than my way? Well then you must be selfish. Your decisions must be due to a lack of compassion.

Now personally I think we should be doing way, way more to accomodate refugees, and not because of our history in the region but because there are people dying and we can help, so we should. This also isn't a problem that's going away any time soon, so the camps in Lebanon and the surrounding area have an important but limited role in providing a solution. But do you see what I did there? I engaged with the argument and explained why I thought the alternative was better, without calling anyone selfish or lacking in compassion. I didn't use a photo of a dead kid to beat an opponent and I didn't assume that my position was morally superior to the alternative.

You'll also notice that my politicial analysis above is based primarily on past election results based on the choices at the time, not what my mates think.

Isn't that what determines elections? What people think, I don't see how it matters whether they are my friends or not? Sure the group of people I have access to may not be represented as a majority in the population as a whole, but I never said they were.

Yes, because he was (thought to be) left-wing still but not full blown socialist.

The electorate shifted more because of Labour's incompetence and hubris (culminating in illegal wars and massive financial bungling) than anything the Tories have done IMHO.

My brother works in mental health, the job he does is basically the reason why you don't see homeless camps full of the predominantly mentally ill in big cities like in the USA. This is the sort of thing that the cuts are going to lead to, it won't be overnight but when we get there and people start wondering how we turned into a hugely unequal society, again as per America, it's going to be interesting, in a bad way.

You asked if they 'lived in Brighton', you know exactly what you said.

I don't understand what you're getting at here. The Tories are showing every day that they are the party of "I've got mine." Selfishness is not an emotion, it's a course of action. There's no argument to make is there if we are capable of doing at least our fair share on all fronts, which we aren't.

Besides, you appear to be agreeing that the Tory policy is wrong.
 
Lol, I'll reply properly later on but I wasn't talking about hippies - I was talking about the fact that it was the only constituency in the whole of England that actually voted in a party more left wing than Ed's Labour. So when I was asking where all these people clamouring for a break from the norm were, I jokingly answered my own question with "Brighton".
 

ruttyboy

Member
Lol, I'll reply properly later on but I wasn't talking about hippies - I was talking about the fact that it was the only constituency in the whole of England that actually voted in a party more left wing than Ed's Labour. So when I was asking where all these people clamouring for a break from the norm were, I jokingly answered my own question with "Brighton".

Seriously, don't bother replying. Apologies if I got a bit heated, bad day.
 

Par Score

Member
Not specifically Corbyn, but I think the SNP could take a major hit on popularity based on next year's Scottish elections.

I'm predicting going for a second referendum is going to be a problematic move.

Someone quote me in a year and bask in how wrong I'll be. Thank goodness I'm not a betting man!

No need to wait a year, all indications are that the SNP will smash it at this years Hollyrood elections, and that support for Independence is higher than it's ever been.

I wouldn't be surprised if Scotland is gone from the Union before 2020.
 

funkypie

Banned
What was corbyns position on Kosovov?

I think corbyn is a mixed bag. He makes some bang on points about nationalising the energy sector and railways. They are run for profit and the cost never stops going up, imagine how much money would be In people's pockets if gas and electric were state owned?

But his ideas on immigration are a joke. on Channel 4s leader debate he said net migration of 300,000 a year was a small amount and we should take more. He is a fantasist and his love affair with the ira and other terrorists is off putting to.

For every positive about him there are just if not more negatives. The rest of labour are yes men idiots who couldn't lead shit, labour really are screwed for a long time now.

Anything is better than tony Blair and his scum loving blairite followers though.
 

Jezbollah

Member
No need to wait a year, all indications are that the SNP will smash it at this years Hollyrood elections, and that support for Independence is higher than it's ever been.

I wouldn't be surprised if Scotland is gone from the Union before 2020.

Without a Westminster parliamentary act that is simply not possible.
 

War Peaceman

You're a big guy.
It does strike me as a bit dishonest to push for a second referendum so soon after the first. I know that is only speculation at this point, but I feel like that result should mean something. You can't just keep putting referendums forward until you get the desired answer.
 
It does strike me as a bit dishonest to push for a second referendum so soon after the first. I know that is only speculation at this point, but I feel like that result should mean something. You can't just keep putting referendums forward until you get the desired answer.

A referendum soon after another can be okay if the context has changed enough. For example, another referendum on electoral reform would be okay now if you look at the differences in party politics since 2011.

But yeah basically pushing for another referendum on independence before 2020 just seems dishonest.
 

Maledict

Member
I'd guess their platform will be no second referendum, unless the UK votes to leave the EU and Scotland votes to stay.

And, even though I want Scotland to stay in the UK, I think that would be a fair reason to run the independence vote again. That is a *massive* change to the fundamental landscape of our country.
 

MrChom

Member
At some point parliament either has to quash the referendum calls for a couple of decades, or actually forcibly remove the UK claim on Scotland and let them go. If they did slip into a neverendum situation all it would do is tank the British economy.

As for Corbyn being unelectable....that's what was originally said about him in the election race for the Labour leader. It looks now like he might take it. Before the general election it looked like a hung parliament...and then the Tories won it. No one genuinely thought Churchill would lose a late-war election...but he did.

Democracy gives us all sorts of surprises, especially in a system as unfair and anti-democratic as the UK where many of us have no vote at all because of where we live (I still vote, but it amounts to little other than how much my preferred candidate loses by.
 

phisheep

NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
I'd guess their platform will be no second referendum, unless the UK votes to leave the EU and Scotland votes to stay.

Well, that presents an interesting conundrum for nationalists. Do you vote to remain in the EU because that's what you want; or to leave the EU because it will precipitate an independence referendum?
 
Well, that presents an interesting conundrum for nationalists. Do you vote to remain in the EU because that's what you want; or to leave the EU because it will precipitate an independence referendum?

Pretty simple conundrum imo. Scotland leaving the UK would mean Scotland leaving the EU anyway (this has been confirmed by the Commission and was talked about quite a bit during the referendum last year). So from a nationalist point of view, simply vote to leave the EU if it will precipitate another indy ref. Scotland would have to rejoin either way.
 

phisheep

NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Pretty simple conundrum imo. Scotland leaving the UK would mean Scotland leaving the EU anyway (this has been confirmed by the Commission and was talked about quite a bit during the referendum last year). So from a nationalist point of view, simply vote to leave the EU if it will precipitate another indy ref. Scotland would have to rejoin either way.

Much more interesting than that!

The thing that was confirmed by the Commission last year was if Scotland seceded from the UK while the UK was a member state Scotland would have to reapply.

However, if the UK votes to leave the EU and Scotland wants to stay in the EU and leave the UK, then there's a pretty strong argument that Scotland would not have to reapply, as it would be effectively the successor state to an existing member.

Hence the conundrum. A very strong REMAIN vote in Scotland with a strong LEAVE vote in the rest of the UK, sufficient to trigger Brexit, would (a) provide a very strong case for Scotland to be regarded as the successor state but (b) would not provoke an early referendum. On the other hand if a strong LEAVE vote in Scotland helps trigger Brexit an early referendum would be more likely but the moral case for successor-statehood would be undermined.

It is all very fiddly.
 
Much more interesting than that!

The thing that was confirmed by the Commission last year was if Scotland seceded from the UK while the UK was a member state Scotland would have to reapply.

However, if the UK votes to leave the EU and Scotland wants to stay in the EU and leave the UK, then there's a pretty strong argument that Scotland would not have to reapply, as it would be effectively the successor state to an existing member.

Hence the conundrum. A very strong REMAIN vote in Scotland with a strong LEAVE vote in the rest of the UK, sufficient to trigger Brexit, would (a) provide a very strong case for Scotland to be regarded as the successor state but (b) would not provoke an early referendum. On the other hand if a strong LEAVE vote in Scotland helps trigger Brexit an early referendum would be more likely but the moral case for successor-statehood would be undermined.

It is all very fiddly.

Haha, oh I see what you mean. I think I went cross-eyed reading your post!
 
Out of interest, mainly as it's an argument I've attempted to make but haven't been eloquent enough to get across, what do people think about this article, about how 1983 was more to do with the Falklands and the SDP split over anything else.
 
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