Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sir Keir Starmer - Labour Party Leader

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    I see it more as the clientilstic capture of the entire state apparatus, as contrasted with the regulatory capture of an individual bureaucracy (which occurs in almost every "advanced democracy").

    That isn't unique to the UK, but the UK does possess structural elements that make it both more likely to happen and more damaging when it does. These include FPTP, very strong party discipline, "parliamentary sovereignty", an unwritten constitution, the structure and control of the media, and the absence of any serious restraint from either above (post-Brexit) or below (other than as allowed to some extent post-devolution).
    Yeah, that's a good way of describing it. Far better than mine!

    Comment


      He's been busy supporting the government again, this time about punishing dissent.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58980384

      Comment


        Originally posted by Sunderporinostesta View Post

        But not all party campaigners.
        I'm sure there's a spectrum from altruistic believers in a better world to cynical ratnbastards

        Comment


          The worst and most corrosive hate is published daily by named journalists, often with their photos attached. Maybe go after them first before targeting people who answer back on Twitter

          Comment


            Originally posted by Gas In Name Only View Post
            The worst and most corrosive hate is published daily by named journalists, often with their photos attached. Maybe go after them first before targeting people who answer back on Twitter
            If we could sum up the last five years in a sentence it would be "Why won't you fucking plebs just shut up and do as you are told?"

            Comment


              Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post

              If we could sum up the last five years in a sentence it would be "Why won't you fucking plebs just shut up and do as you are told?"
              And that's mostly come from the Labour party.

              Comment


                Just catching up with the Labour thread and, my, does it make a predictably depressing read. I suppose Leftists of various shades ought to consider the glimmer of hope the Corbyn years gave of just a teeny bit of socialism as the unexpected anomaly, mind, and now it’s back to business as usual as utter let-downs from the “sensible pragmatists”. Sir Keir and his crew wont be upsetting any applecarts or offering any material changes, will they?

                At least Drakeford’s Welsh Labour machine is still in reasonable shape right now. Small mercies and all that.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by slackster View Post
                  Sir Keir and his crew wont be upsetting any applecarts or offering any material changes, will they?
                  Andy Burnham got slapped down by a Labour MP for complaining about the cost of public transport in Manchester compared to London, so no.

                  Comment


                    Sir Keir and his crew wont be upsetting any applecarts or offering any material changes, will they?
                    I know the main things that are distressing the left wingers on here are the abandonment of left wing policies by Labour under Starmer, combined with vindictive abuses of power against the left wing of the party at all levels, and I don't criticise that reaction at all - it seems abhorrent to me even as a not particularly left wing person in the context of the Labour "wings" spectrum. Abuse of power is always ugly, and Labour damn well ought to stand for properly left wing policies, we all need that in the interests of a healthy democracy.

                    But what infuriates me about Starmer and his cronies, and makes me despise him with a passion, isn't mainly his failure to have left wing policies or to treat the left fairly. It's the double whammy of his failure to have ANY F**KING POLICIES AT ALL, left, centre or any other kind, and, above all, his pathetic spineless failure to call the Government to account (properly or, in many respects, at all) on their criminal corruption, their perversion of democracy or their lethal libertarian recklessness on COVID. In other words, his failure to provide any kind of meaningful sodding opposition at a time when, more than any other in our history, strong opposition is desperately needed.

                    Edit: also, of course, his failure to be honest about the damage being caused by Brexit. And his failure to represent the poorest sections of our society, leaving that kind of thing to Marcus Rashford and others.
                    Last edited by Evariste Euler Gauss; 21-10-2021, 16:09.

                    Comment


                      With Covid, I could see the logic - in March 2020 - of not going in gung-ho against the government, when everyone was getting to grips with unprecedented circumstances. But now, after 18 months of incompetence, callousness, corruption and chaos, to be uttering bullshit platitudes like "we're not in favour of moving to plan B, we're in favour of making plan A work" just defies logic. Total thoughtless, complacent election-losing rubbish

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post

                        But what infuriates me about Starmer and his cronies, and makes me despise him with a passion, isn't mainly his failure to have left wing policies or to treat the left fairly. It's the double whammy of his failure to have ANY F**KING POLICIES AT ALL, left, centre or any other kind, and, above all, his pathetic spineless failure to call the Government to account (properly or, in many respects, at all) on their criminal corruption, their perversion of democracy or their lethal libertarian recklessness on COVID. In other words, his failure to provide any kind of meaningful sodding opposition at a time when, more than any other in our history, strong opposition is desperately needed.

                        Edit: also, of course, his failure to be honest about the damage being caused by Brexit. And his failure to represent the poorest sections of our society, leaving that kind of thing to Marcus Rashford and others.
                        Absolutely agree with this. He is derelict in his duty as leader of the opposition.

                        And it seems like he is a git as well. A softly spoken well-heeled git. But still a git.

                        Comment


                          What was that phrase we kept hearing from the Sensibles who were forcing Labour to adopt their Brexit policy? Ah yes, "The Opposition's job is to oppose".

                          Comment


                            Labour are so frightened of saying anything that might put a single notional voter off them, and yet don't seem to care that they thus attract absolutely nobody.

                            Comment


                              In the last year or so when I was at Melody Maker, there was a change of editor and a change of editorial direction. Melody Maker, the editor sternly announced at his first editorial meeting would from now on be more "fun". This would mean, effectively, turning it into an inky Smash Hits, a tactic with which MM had briefly flirted in the early 1980s, to near-disastrous effect. Still, made sense. Smash Hits was popular. We needed readers. Smash Hits has readers. Let's just do what Smash Hits does. And so it came to pass. Only nobody, but nobody wanted an inky Smash Hits, because they already had the actual Smash Hits. No one, but no one, was saying, "Hey, why are you still reading Smash Hits the magazine? Me and all my cool mates are turned onto the big inky version now."

                              Labour under Starmer is attempting a similar strategy to MM, prior to it folding in 2000.

                              Comment


                                Except Smash Hits was sharp, funny, relevant and irreverent. And understood what its public wanted. None of those descriptions apply to the Evans-Starmer Labour regime

                                Comment


                                  I think Smash Hits in this metaphor are the Tories. Admittedly “Funny and relevant” don’t exactly describe Dominic Raab and Mark Francois either.

                                  Comment


                                    Yes, they are the Tories in the metaphor but were not themselves Tory.

                                    Comment


                                      and yet don't seem to care that they thus attract absolutely nobody.
                                      Yes, this. Pretty much the only reason I can see to vote Labour right now is to keep the Tories out. Nothing positive about Labour at all, just negative about the Tories. I mean, it's a powerful reason, and due to our FPTP system it would mean my hypothetically voting Labour (whoops, edited) in the majority of English constituencies. But it will never be enough for them to win.

                                      Comment


                                        Has tested positive for Covid, so Ed Miliband is doing PMQs.

                                        Comment


                                          No doubt Ed will do a better job again

                                          Comment


                                            So, this data-blocking "cyber incident", then. A couple of interesting tweets from people who either were no longer, or never have been, Labour members, reporting that they'd received the email from Labour saying that their data may be among the stuff affected. Which invites questions about how much data-trawling David Evans's Kangaroo Court Thinly Masquerading As A Political Party. I pretty much take for granted that Labour HQ has screenshotted every single tweet ever posted by every member, but some interesting stuff could emerge from this.

                                            Comment


                                              I got this (ex-member, 12 months) but the Party's Privacy Policy clearly states that data can be given to third parties. I've seen lots of angry/surprised tweets about this, but so far haven't seen anyone going into detail about why this is a breach. https://labour.org.uk/privacy-policy/#4

                                              Comment


                                                Arrest they only allowed to share data for specific purposes? Though fuck knows what remains of GDPR with ye anymore.

                                                Comment


                                                  Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                                                  Arrest they only
                                                  Damn Freudian cocks... slips, sorry, I meant slips

                                                  Comment


                                                    Originally posted by johnr View Post
                                                    I got this (ex-member, 12 months) but the Party's Privacy Policy clearly states that data can be given to third parties. I've seen lots of angry/surprised tweets about this, but so far haven't seen anyone going into detail about why this is a breach. https://labour.org.uk/privacy-policy/#4
                                                    Depends what it is being used for. It got quietly buried that one of the TIGs tried to steal the members list on the way out in 2018, but someone warned her about the consequences.

                                                    The suspicion - not borne out - is that it might have been used to cross-reference against social media accounts in order to identify undesirables.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X