I joined the Labour Party...

[hipipol]

so who would you suggest Corbo puts in there, bearing in mind the first / most important role is as counterbalance to the pro trident Angela Eagle ?

Despite his occasional daft episodes ( which can obviously be damaging, and need stamping on quick, as JC did yday ) , Kens a wily operator, tough as an old boot, won't fold in the face of the inevitable press vitriol, but does actually compromise ( backslide ) when push comes to shove : ie : good, slippery politician.

None of which will advance the cause of world peace in any meaniginful way, but i just dont see who the more viable options are, in the context of the Corbo programme, such as it is ?

Well when drowning it is unadvisable to have a shark dumped in the pool with you in the belief its presence will cause you to thresh faster and maybe save yourself
Ken, and I am very grateful for what he achieved when in power in London, is very much an old school cronyist who cannot help but surround him self with vassals to bully and undermine his supposed colleagues - bit like putting the Hells Angels in charge of security at a festival - and we know how that ended....

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Well when drowning it is unadvisable to have a shark dumped in the pool with you in the belief its presence will cause you to thresh faster and maybe save yourself
Ken, and I am very grateful for what he achieved when in power in London, is very much an old school cronyist who cannot help but surround him self with vassals to bully and undermine his supposed colleagues - bit like putting the Hells Angels in charge of security at a festival - and we know how that ended....

Well Corbyn as Jagger is at least novel in terms of the comparisons being drawn.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[andysays]

Well Corbyn as Jagger is at least novel in terms of the comparisons being drawn.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

John McDonnell as Keith?

 

[cantsin]

Well when drowning it is unadvisable to have a shark dumped in the pool with you in the belief its presence will cause you to thresh faster and maybe save yourself
Ken, and I am very grateful for what he achieved when in power in London, is very much an old school cronyist who cannot help but surround him self with vassals to bully and undermine his supposed colleagues - bit like putting the Hells Angels in charge of security at a festival - and we know how that ended....

and tbf, it's easy to always focus on Altamont, but what about all the other events / happening they kept in nice vibey order ?

 

[andysays]

Those of you who are joining should perhaps spare a thought for those who are leaving...

Corbyn critic Robert Webb announces he has left Labour

Robert Webb says he has cancelled his standing order but still cares

 

[mk12]

Won't somebody think of the Oxbridge educated millionaire liberals!

 

[Bakunin]

Won't somebody think of the Oxbridge educated millionaire liberals!

Tirelessly building their 'ethical personal brand' off other people's struggles while not risking arrest 'just for journalism.'

 

[killer b]

I'm not sure if Robert Webb has an ethical personal brand does he?

 

[seventh bullet]

Won't somebody think of the Oxbridge educated millionaire liberals!

Hello stranger.

 

[Bakunin]

I'm not sure if Robert Webb has an ethical personal brand does he?

Possibly not, but I've no sympathy for him, personally. He's been bashing Corbyn over and over again and then leaves in a huff because Corbyn's supporters have returned the favour. When Old Labour members were leaving or being sidelined because they didn't fit Blairite ideas did he complain then about people being pushed out for having the wrong opinions?

Yet he publicly spits his dummy out because a supposedly socialist party has become too socialist for him.

 

[killer b]

Were you trying to shoehorn Penny in? Fucking hell.

 

[danny la rouge]

I'm not sure if Robert Webb has an ethical personal brand does he?

Breaking: The half of a comedy duo that never gets asked on panel shows is leaving a party blah de blah.

He should have been expelled for being a whining twat.

 

[Bakunin]

Were you trying to shoehorn Penny in? Fucking hell.

I've no regard for any of that Oxbridge bubble. None of them. If his type didn't complain about Old Labour people being pushed out or leaving the party because they felt sidelined and his type didn't stand up for them then, they have zero right to whine about how Labour has then shifted too far left for them. Perhaps Labour in socialist form was never their natural political home to start with and it's no longer their plaything now.

 

[killer b]

I'm not sure what Laurie Penny has to do with any of that? Why bring her up now?

 

[Bakunin]

I'm not sure what Laurie Penny has to do with any of that? Why bring her up now?

Because that whole Oxbridge bubble took a socialist party, made it something it was never meant to be, pushed out those who wished otherwise and now start throwing their toys out of the pram when that party democratically starts to shift back where it was always meant to be in the first place. How many of them stood up when Blair and his cronies began turning Labour into Tory-lite, elbowed out people within the party who didn't go along with it and sidelined those they couldn't get rid of? Did they argue that point of principle then? Did they mind when those inconvenient old lefties either left or were hamstrung?

Blairism saw Labour desert its traditional membership. They never abandoned Labour, Labour abandoned them. And they did that with not only the consent but also the connivance of the very type who whining about Corbyn now. Is it any real surprise that there's a certain lack of sympathy for Webb and his ilk generally?

 

[killer b]

what's any of that got to do with Laurie Penny?

 

[killer b]

oh yeah.

fuck all.

You've a whole thread to obsess over her, no need to bring it here too.

 

[butchersapron]

Because that whole Oxbridge bubble took a socialist party, made it something it was never meant to be, pushed out those who wished otherwise and now start throwing their toys out of the pram when that party democratically starts to shift back where it was always meant to be in the first place. How many of them stood up when Blair and his cronies began turning Labour into Tory-lite, elbowed out people within the party who didn't go along with it and sidelined those they couldn't get rid of? Did they argue that point of principle then? Did they mind when those inconvenient old lefties either left or were hamstrung?

Blairism saw Labour desert its traditional membership. They never abandoned Labour, Labour abandoned them. And they did that with not only the consent but also the connivance of the very type who whining about Corbyn now. Is it any real surprise that there's a certain lack of sympathy for Webb and his ilk generally?

The people left were oxbridge bubble people. Laurie penny has never been a labour person though (i don't mean in terms of ideology, i mean in terms of having the bottle to be one). That's just a generalised rage thing with a mis-telling of a history that never was, i think.

 

[Bakunin]

what's any of that got to do with Laurie Penny?

Because she's one of that bubble, with Webb, Helen Lewis, Toynbee and the rest of them. Their sort ruined Labour, turned it into something it was never meant to be, regarded it as their toy to play with and are now throwing wobblers when those nasty old lefties (along with a great many other people) decided they wanted their party back. They seem like they'd rather burn Labour down and bag its ashes rather than surrender it to the democratic will of its members who voted an old leftie back in in the first place.

Are you seriously wondering why old lefties might have something against them and lack sympathy for their type?

 

[killer b]

no, that's not what I'm wondering. I'm wondering why you've decided to treat us to your standard Penny rant on a thread that has nothing to do with her.

 

[killer b]

I mean. she's basically a pretty insignificant liberal journalist who'd love it if everything was about her. This isn't. Why help her with that aim?

 

[Bakunin]

no, that's not what I'm wondering. I'm wondering why you've decided to treat us to your standard Penny rant on a thread that has nothing to do with her.

It was one example of a wider trend. Simple. The kind of people who are throwing wobblers about Corbyn and the old left reclaiming what should have been their party. I've no time for any of them, especially not those like Webb who develop a thin skin about being treated harshly when he's been insulting Corbyn since Corbyn was voted in. Their hypocrisy on this and their disdain for a democratic decision unless it's a decision they want is palpable.

If Labour isn't their natural home then they can do what so many old-school socialists did during the Blairite era. They can leave.

 

[killer b]

Balls, it's just that someone writing the words 'oxbridge liberal' are like pavlov ringing his bell for you - you vomit out the standard penny-hate regardless of what's being discussed. It's fucking tedious.

 

[Jimmy Turr]

Because she's one of that bubble, with Webb, Helen Lewis, Toynbee and the rest of them. Their sort ruined Labour, turned it into something it was never meant to be, regarded it as their toy to play with and are now throwing wobblers when those nasty old lefties (along with a great many other people) decided they wanted their party back. They seem like they'd rather burn Labour down and bag its ashes rather than surrender it to the democratic will of its members who voted an old leftie back in in the first place.

Are you seriously wondering why old lefties might have something against them and lack sympathy for their type?

The Blairites were more in line with what Labour was always supposed to be-a pragmatic electoral party designed to try and win and govern within the prevailing political and economic consensus-than Corbyn, who is currently going against the grain. I'd guess that there are plenty of Oxbridge types among Corbyn supporters and many working class members (or non-Oxbridge types anyway) who have misgivings about the project (such as it exists.)

There has never been a 'good old socialist Labour party,' and despite a mass working class membership it has always propelled Oxbridge types to the fore.

 

[Jimmy Turr]

I mean. she's basically a pretty insignificant liberal journalist who'd love it if everything was about her. This isn't. Why help her with that aim?

A small minority did try to say this on that two million post thread obsessing about her.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

The Blairites were more in line with what Labour was always supposed to be-a pragmatic electoral party designed to try and win and govern within the prevailing political and economic consensus-than Corbyn, who is currently going against the grain. I'd guess that there are plenty of Oxbridge types among Corbyn supporters and many working class (or non-Oxbridge types anyway) who have misgivings about the project (such as it exists.)

There has never been a 'good old socialist Labour party,' and despite a mass working class membership it has always propelled Oxbridge types to the fore.

And one plus one makes three.

 

[Jimmy Turr]

Furthermore, while the Blairites did abandon Labour's traditional supporter base, they did so in full knowledge that enough of that base would continue to vote Labour for want of an alternative. Those who fell into apathy or went over for a time to the BNP were, in their eyes, worth sacrificing for the continued support of 'Middle Britain.'

It all went with their vision of a society where the old working class should aspire to be a pale version of the middle class, and those at the very bottom content themselves with whatever crumbs come their way (and killing and maiming each other from time to time.)

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Furthermore, while the Blairites did abandon Labour's traditional supporter base, they did so in full knowledge that enough of that base would continue to vote Labour for want of an alternative. Those who fell into apathy or went over for a time to the BNP were, in their eyes, worth sacrificing for the continued support of 'Middle Britain.'

It all went with their vision of a society where the old working class should aspire to be a pale version of the middle class, and those at the very bottom content themselves with whatever crumbs come their way (and killing and maiming each other from time to time.)

Have you thought of taking up writing science fiction stories?

 

[Jimmy Turr]

Only if I could guarantee it would bring me the lifestyle and adulation enjoyed by L Ron Hubbard.

 

[killer b]

A small minority did try to say this on that two million post thread obsessing about her.

In your years of exile I've rather come round to your view. I dunno, I think that thread sometimes served a purpose in illuminating the way the liberal media bubble maintains itself (it still does occasionally), but that got lost from view as it went on.