Jeremy Corbyn

[theskull1]

Think you will find that Blair made the Labour party electable by taking this step to the left, while it might please those who want to see something other than the middle ground hogs it will make them totally unelectable at the next GE.

All well and good having these great ideals in opposition when you don't have to do anything about them, its an all together different thing to make yourself relevant to the electorate and get yourself into government. Like or loathe Blair but that is exactly what he did for the labour party.

Is this not similar to giving Jimmy Saville credit for his charity work back in the day when he was a cultural icon NAG? With hindsight people now have a very different perspective on the war criminal Tony B'liar'. No doubt the loathing for his years of schmaltzy spin doctering has played a huge part in getting JC elected. Every word TB spoke wood have drove JC's popularity up such is the distain in which he's held. I look forward to hearing a different 'voice' in politics thats not aligned to the establishment or the wealthy. 

[NAG1]

Think you will find that Blair made the Labour party electable by taking this step to the left, while it might please those who want to see something other than the middle ground hogs it will make them totally unelectable at the next GE.

All well and good having these great ideals in opposition when you don't have to do anything about them, its an all together different thing to make yourself relevant to the electorate and get yourself into government. Like or loathe Blair but that is exactly what he did for the labour party.

Is this not similar to giving Jimmy Saville credit for his charity work back in the day when he was a cultural icon NAG? With hindsight people now have a very different perspective on the war criminal Tony B'liar'. No doubt the loathing for his years of schmaltzy spin doctering has played a huge part in getting JC elected. Every word TB spoke wood have drove JC's popularity up such is the distain in which he's held. I look forward to hearing a different 'voice' in politics thats not aligned to the establishment or the wealthy.

Skull, I wasnt backing Tony Blair in any shape or form I was merely pointing to the fact that he got the labour party elected a feat that JC will never match.

It is also very easy to stand on the sidelines and shout the odds but what is the point if he doesnt get into power to do something about the ideals and values that he holds.

I am all for a fairer society with wealth and accountability stretching to all sectors, but in the current format this is not going to happen with JC leading the labour party.

[imtommygunn]

Unless they do something like this though then they have went away from the very principles they were built on. Granted it may be a bit extreme but probably shows the apathy for where they have gone to.

As it stands labour are going nowhere. People are leaving the party to join SNP and the likes as labour people, yes labour people, are more aligned with SNP's principles than what their own party has evolved to.

Like I say extreme but ,I firmly believe, required. If nothing else it will shake them up.

[magpie seanie]

Major problem with socialism around the world is by and large those it benefits are very quick to pull the ladder up with them when their lot improves.

Plenty here well able to go on about the leftie loons etc while being first in the queue to claim overtime, travel expenses and enjoy the weekend etc. All benefits extracted the hard way over the years.

Imo anyway, the best countries in the world to live in always had a strong socialist party (as in fairness they also had a strong conservative presence).

I would agree with the last part of this. This boy is unlikely to get into power but something needs to be done to shake it up a bit at least. Milliband has set the labour party back years and the lib dems going into coalition has effectively killed them off.

The next party in line at present is the UKIP.

Labour at least will move some way back towards their real principles. Blair wasn't a real labour guy and the mroe time goes on the more you realise that he really wasn't a good guy at all.

If Corbyn isn't successful so be it but currently Labour are very much in the doldrums and are going backwards. They need a shake up and hopefully he'll shake up the tories.

Interestingly he also believes in a united ireland so I'm sure the unionists will love him.

Blair destroyed the Labour party. Milliband was just trying to live up to that legacy, the muppet.

Think you will find that Blair made the Labour party electable by taking this step to the left, while it might please those who want to see something other than the middle ground hogs it will make them totally unelectable at the next GE.

All well and good having these great ideals in opposition when you don't have to do anything about them, its an all together different thing to make yourself relevant to the electorate and get yourself into government. Like or loathe Blair but that is exactly what he did for the labour party.

Have you any idea how senseless that post is? You're suggesting Labour can take power with no seats in Scotland. Utterly ridiculous. Blair got away with it because Scots had no-one else to vote for but with the rise in the SNP, Labour don't have the handy seats in Scotland to prop them up. This would mean a massive swing from the Tories & Lib Dems would be needed in England and Scotland by beating them at their own game. I'm sorry - that's just ridiculous.

[screenexile]

How does the old saying go "Campaign in fiction and govern in prose".

That's life! When people get into power they realise the things they wanted to do are pipe dreams. He'll not turn Labour around and as some seanie has mentioned the fact Scotland now have a strong SNP means Labour are basically gone for the foreseeable future unless there is some kind of major Conservative catastrophe!!

[deiseach]

That's life! When people get into power they realise the things they wanted to do are pipe dreams. He'll not turn Labour around and as some seanie has mentioned the fact Scotland now have a strong SNP means Labour are basically gone for the foreseeable future unless there is some kind of major Conservative catastrophe!!

*cough* Brexit *cough'

[imtommygunn]

How does the old saying go "Campaign in fiction and govern in prose".

That's life! When people get into power they realise the things they wanted to do are pipe dreams. He'll not turn Labour around and as some seanie has mentioned the fact Scotland now have a strong SNP means Labour are basically gone for the foreseeable future unless there is some kind of major Conservative catastrophe!!

The only chance they have is something on these lines though or obscurity beckons!

[Armamike]

I'd be surprised if Corbyn is still leader in a couple of years.  Given his track record and contempt for all things establishment he probably doesn't really aspire to be PM anyway. It's much easier to stand on the fringes with a placard and be a renegade than actually take on the responsibility and pressure that goes with leadership, to try to make changes.  People who voted for him mustn't have been around in the early 1980s. He doesn't offer anything new or fresh, just tired rehashed old ideas that didn't wash with the general public back then.  Labour's current failing  is that the candidates standing against Corbyn were bland and uninspiring. The way forward for Labour is to weave their socialist values more subtly into plausible policies that resonate with Joe average.  It's possible to do that.

[dferg]

I'd be surprised if Corbyn is still leader in a couple of years.  Given his track record and contempt for all things establishment he probably doesn't really aspire to be PM anyway. It's much easier to stand on the fringes with a placard and be a renegade than actually take on the responsibility and pressure that goes with leadership, to try to make changes.  People who voted for him mustn't have been around in the early 1980s. He doesn't offer anything new or fresh, just tired rehashed old ideas that didn't wash with the general public back then.  Labour's current failing  is that the candidates standing against Corbyn were bland and uninspiring. The way forward for Labour is to weave their socialist values more subtly into plausible policies that resonate with Joe average.  It's possible to do that.

Name 1 of these socialist values?

He was elected as the other 3 candidates did not have any socialist values.  They were Labour in name only.

[Canalman]

That's life! When people get into power they realise the things they wanted to do are pipe dreams. He'll not turn Labour around and as some seanie has mentioned the fact Scotland now have a strong SNP means Labour are basically gone for the foreseeable future unless there is some kind of major Conservative catastrophe!!

*cough* Brexit *cough'

Or the invevitable result of  the current  money printing or whatever  newfangled term they have for it now. Historically never ends prettily.
Throw in a property crash in the midlands and the south and I think JC and the Laobour Party are right back in the game.

[Clov]

24 things he believes in
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34209478

How many do you agree with?

I scored 23 with a may be on the other.

[muppet]

I got as far as this:

1. The deficit should be tackled - but not through spending cuts and not to an "arbitrary" deadline. Instead Corbyn would fund its reduction via higher taxes for the rich and a crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion while tackling "corporate welfare" and tax breaks for companies.

Then I thought another spoofer.

The deficit is caused by spending more than they take in. The solution, of course, is not to look at spending.  Just get someone else to pay for everything. Any halfwit, in any house, in any country, that is spending more than they earn, will look at cutting spending as well as seeking to increase revenue. But not a left-wing politician it seems.

[Clov]

The old running a household analogy for running a government, favoured by the tabloids.

The analogy breaks down because governments can increase income at will whereas my income is more or less fixed for the time being. 

[muppet]

The old running a household analogy for running a government, favoured by the tabloids.

The analogy breaks down because governments can increase income at will whereas my income is more or less fixed for the time being.

Really?

But if the Government 'increases income at will' by taxation, doesn't that reduce your income? Thus you move towards deficit. And you will cut spending, even if the Government is too stupid to, and thus the Government income will reduce. And so on, until this nonsense is voted out again.

[armaghniac]

I got as far as this:

1. The deficit should be tackled - but not through spending cuts and not to an "arbitrary" deadline. Instead Corbyn would fund its reduction via higher taxes for the rich and a crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion while tackling "corporate welfare" and tax breaks for companies.

Then I thought another spoofer.

The deficit is caused by spending more than they take in. The solution, of course, is not to look at spending.  Just get someone else to pay for everything. Any halfwit, in any house, in any country, that is spending more than they earn, will look at cutting spending as well as seeking to increase revenue. But not a left-wing politician it seems.

I'd be inclinced to agree, in general. IN most western European countries government has reached the limit if its capacity, if it wishes to spend more on thing it must spend less on something else.  However, Seanie's point above is valid in that corporate welfare is expenditure and not the best use of public money.