Rochdale by-election

[Penfold01]

Galloway fires the starting pistol on a long WPB leadership contest by the sounds of it.

Will he be succeeded by the fat MAGA hat wearer from Rhyl or the bus driver who got 19 votes in Helensburgh? Or will Joti Brar waft in from shadows and exile to impose a pitiless Juche-ist agenda and cult of personality?

What about that "Daily Mao" geezer that used to post a Little Red Book quote every day on Twitter? I'd be up for a long march from Rochdale?

 

[redcogs]

I used to take the kids to Littleborough Lake

me too. but it was in the 1970s. Mum took me on a few 'mystery' coach trips from Brighouse in the 1950s. They all ended with a wizz around Hollingworth lake (which i assume is Littleborough lake?).

 

[emanymton]

ohh, so it does, sorry. Still, they will have done that with much of the constituency already and two leaflet drops and a conversation is doable, imo

I think your being generous with the number of people and the amount of time they would each put in. Or maybe I just don't want to give Galloway a chance.

 

[The39thStep]

me too. but it was in the 1970s. Mum took me on a few 'mystery' coach trips from Brighouse in the 1950s. They all ended with a wizz around Hollingworth lake (which i assume is Littleborough lake?).

I think Hollingworth is the right name

 

[BusLanes]

Think can be true that Galloway has lots of volunteers but also not as many as he says and they are not as effective as he claims

 

[The39thStep]

Hollingworth Lake, the weighver's seaport, once a pretty big tourist attraction with steamboats and shit, and still nice to walk down the prom and imagine you're not in Rochdale.

Further away in Derbyshire but still in the North there is Rudyard Lake which was another Victorian inland holiday place that was very popular. I always used to think that if I ever won the lottery I'd buy one of the properties there that sat on stilts in the water.

 

[lazythursday]

Pondering on just how unlucky Rochdale has been with its MPs - Danczuk, Cyril Smith, and quite probably Galloway, I suddenly remember another one - the vile Blairite Lorna Fitzsimmons. Who has disappeared without trace, no doubt into cushy boardroom positions.

 

[PR1Berske]

Pondering on just how unlucky Rochdale has been with its MPs - Danczuk, Cyril Smith, and quite probably Galloway, I suddenly remember another one - the vile Blairite Lorna Fitzsimmons. Who has disappeared without trace, no doubt into cushy boardroom positions.

It really doesn't deserve the cards it's been dealt, for sure.

 

[Silas Loom]

Pondering on just how unlucky Rochdale has been with its MPs - Danczuk, Cyril Smith, and quite probably Galloway, I suddenly remember another one - the vile Blairite Lorna Fitzsimmons. Who has disappeared without trace, no doubt into cushy boardroom positions.

Tell me what Lorna Fitzsimmons has done to deserve being called “vile” in comparison with a predatory paedophile, a Baathist and Danczuk.

 

[lazythursday]

Tell me what Lorna Fitzsimmons has done to deserve being called “vile” in comparison with a predatory paedophile, a Baathist and Danczuk.

I've met her.

 

[PR1Berske]

"There’s too many shadows on this town.”

‘We don’t deserve this’: Rochdale voters left cold by byelection chaos

Disappointment in the candidates is palpable in the town, where people feel let down and neglected by the main parties

www.theguardian.com

 

[The39thStep]

Lorna Fitzsimmons definitely needs a reappraisal

Lorna Fitzsimons: Why I'm backing Israel

Lorna Fitzsimons: The left and the Islamists portray me as a Zionist neocon, but it takes two sides to make a peace deal.

www.theguardian.com

 

[brogdale]

The state they're in:

 

[hitmouse]

I knew we'd make an anarchist out of Lisa Nando's one day!

 

[A380]

Graphical representation of the Rochdale by-election

 

[Sue]

I knew we'd make an anarchist out of Lisa Nando's one day!

Pretty sure that's the first time I've heard a politician from a mainstream political party advising voters not to vote.

 

[steeplejack]

Poor Rochdale, really. Abandoned even by Lisa Nando's Research Centre for Small Towns.

 

[hitmouse]

Article from Novara's Northern expert:

Who Cares About Rochdale? | Novara Media

The Rochdale byelection has the Westminster press in rapture. But what the saga really shows is that politicians will rake over deprived towns as if all they could ever be is a means to an end, writes Craig Gent.

novaramedia.com

The painful legacy of the grooming scandal – for which Rochdale has become a by-word in the minds of many of those who live outside of the north west and south Pennines – is relevant because it speaks to the poverty that has marred the town and the class prejudice that has been directed at its people by the state. According to Greater Manchester Poverty Action’s Poverty Monitor report, in 2022, ten years on from the convictions, 28% of children in Rochdale were still living in poverty. This was highest in Milkstone and Deeplish ward, where 50% of children live in poverty, and where Galloway’s campaign has been strong.

It’s not clear which, if any, of the candidates currently care about this. Which is to say: it’s not clear they care about Rochdale itself. Instead, depending on who you listen to, the byelection campaign has become about sticking two fingers up to Starmer, Galloway, or those people – largely Muslim – “banging on” about Palestine.

Of course, Palestine is a Rochdale issue for some voters. Aside from politics, many people will also have family links there, as in many constituencies across the north and Britain more widely. But no one really expects Galloway to set foot in Rochdale again if he loses. Rochdale itself is not a Palestine issue. I would like to think that this prediction is deeply ungenerous – after all, Galloway did return to Batley and Spen to support Workers party candidates in the 2022 local elections – but who’s to say.

More importantly, whether Labour loses to Galloway or Ali wins by happenstance, it won’t be the people of Rochdale the party seeks to win back at the next general election. It won’t be the parents of the 28%, or about righting the wrongs of the last 20 years. Meanwhile on Palestine, Labour knows the damage is done. In Rochdale and elsewhere, Starmer will hope to figure out what bones Labour can throw to the mythical Muslim vote to peel away enough of them that he can forget about the rest.

Commentators love to remind us that byelections aren’t reliable sources of information. That might be true if what you care to divine is electoral calculus and voter intention in a general election. But if your interest is not what voters can do for political parties but instead what can be done for voters, byelections like the one we’re now witnessing show very clearly the way in which politicians will rake over deprived towns like Rochdale as if all they could ever be is a means to an end.

 

[gosub]

The state they're in:

View attachment 413534

100 MPs standing down ..3 being given close protection...think it's a broader problem than 50p Lee

 

[hitmouse]

Also from that article, apparently Ali has been campaigning via WhatsApp with these images:

 

[The39thStep]

View attachment 413538

Graphical representation of the Rochdale by-election

That crash was at Collyhurst North Manchester. You could have used an image of the actual Rochdale train crash that killed 4 people.

 

[Serge Forward]

You could have used an image of the actual Rochdale train crash that killed 4 people.

That's the Irk Valley Junction crash in Collyhurst. One of the carriages came off the viaduct and went into the river killing ten people.

 

[Silas Loom]

Also from that article, apparently Ali has been campaigning via WhatsApp with these images:
View attachment 413542
View attachment 413543

Anything that takes votes from Galloway is helpful.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

The state they're in:

View attachment 413534

but has she said exactly what you should draw on the ballot paper?

 

[lazythursday]

Anything that takes votes from Galloway is helpful.

Not if it lets in Danczuk.

 

[The39thStep]

Also from that article, apparently Ali has been campaigning via WhatsApp with these images:
View attachment 413542
View attachment 413543

Do you really think that these images are from Azhar Ali? His track record within Labour is that he is very much a mainstream leader supporter.

 

[Cerv]

Do you really think that these images are from Azhar Ali? His track record within Labour is that he is very much a mainstream leader supporter.

if those are genuine election material, they lack the legally required imprint with name & address of who's produced it.
doubt they are from Ali's campaign.

 

[Sue]

Do you really think that these images are from Azhar Ali? His track record within Labour is that he is very much a mainstream leader supporter.

Although now they've ditched him, who knows?

 

[kebabking]

Although now they've ditched him, who knows?

But if he wins, you could argue that Lab will take him back into the fold as the next GE hoves into view - there'll be a bit of contrition, but it's one less bruising battle with poor optics all round....

 

[Sue]

But if he wins, you could argue that Lab will take him back into the fold as the next GE hoves into view - there'll be a bit of contrition, but it's one less bruising battle with poor optics all round....

I can't believe you're suggesting Labour would be that cynical!