tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post7741350195818472649..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: The Contagion Of Hope: Musings On The Jeremy Corbyn Campaign.Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-44154324605443000782015-08-10T11:45:37.742+12:002015-08-10T11:45:37.742+12:00Well with a bit of luck, he will energise the memb...Well with a bit of luck, he will energise the members so much that the donors won't be missed. Barack Obama allegedly raised funds from the grassroots, and apparently Ron Paul is also very good at it.The proportion of private money going to Labour's falling anyway since they got rid of that evil lying bastard Blair. And there's always the unions :-). Though of course the enemies of democracy are trying to stop them doing that.Funny how the right have conniptions about union donations to political parties, when large corporations do this all the time without any protest from them at all.Guerilla Surgeonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-76629372180237513362015-08-09T15:51:39.064+12:002015-08-09T15:51:39.064+12:00No I read that Labour's five biggest donors sa...No I read that Labour's five biggest donors say that they will withdraw funding if 'financially illiterate' Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership.Jigsawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13906156865367357834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-539747111795449162015-08-08T17:16:27.155+12:002015-08-08T17:16:27.155+12:00Kezia Dugdale is tipped to be the new leader of th...Kezia Dugdale is tipped to be the new leader of the Scottish Labour party. She recently publically railed against support for Jeremy Corbyan by saying he could relegate Labour to "carping on the sidelines" for years "...but I want there to be a Labour government; otherwise I'm wasting my time. I don't want to spend my whole life just carping from the sidelines." Reading between the lines, for Kezia, representing any particular political principles is of secondary importance to the goal of (presumably Kezia) sitting on the government benches. <br /> <br />It's no doubt, a sentiment shared by many members of the Labour ancillary. Such criticism is the unchallenged acceptance that core labour movement principles, of which the party was founded upon, are unsupportable and render the organisation unelectable. <br /><br />Harriet Harman, the current leader of British Labour caused headlines last month by refusing to oppose the Conservative Party's new Welfare Bill (which aimed to slash state assistance to the unemployed). "The party simply could not tell the public they were wrong after two general election defeats in a row, she said, adding it had been defeated because it had not been trusted on the economy or benefits". “What we’ve got to do is listen to what people around the country said to us and recognise that we didn’t get elected again.”<br /><br />The clear message coming from grandees is that to be electable, the once revered party must become even more indistinguishable from the Tory government they oppose. With the Welfare Bill, all of the hopeful Labour leadership hopefuls (apart from Corbyn) aligned with Harmans lead in refusing to vote against the current round of Conservative Party inspired benefit cuts. <br /><br />Jeremy Corban rebuked “If it is proposed that Labour MPs are being asked to vote for the government’s plans to cut benefits to families, I am not willing to vote for policies that will push more children into poverty. Families are suffering enough. We shouldn’t play the government’s political games when the welfare of children is at stake.” This is why Corbyn is providing hope to Labour's heartland while the consummate Blairite, focus-group-studying politicians do not.<br /><br />The phenomenal juggernaut of support behind Corbyan shows a real desire from within a considerable section of the public for a rejection of the neoliberal consensus. In spite of such energised and broad support it would seem that many in the Labour party are simply more comfortable with Toryism than they are representing a movement of labour and the disaffected. At best it's a disgraceful paternalist condescension that ordinary plebs of society don't understand what's good for them. These functionaries simultaneously demonstrate their contempt for labour principles and for those they claim to represent.<br /><br />The hope for Labour is not that Jeremy Corbyn can be leader. It's a demonstration that with Labour providing a consistent opposition to neoliberalism that the party can be reinvigorated as a dynamic movement.Lozhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12064567381918975446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-66544312860414444312015-08-07T17:39:20.733+12:002015-08-07T17:39:20.733+12:00Corbynism and the rising left tide in other parts ...Corbynism and the rising left tide in other parts of Europe should give us all hope that the capitalist nightmare may have a happy ending. Len Richardsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-90120802454525620032015-08-06T20:11:45.312+12:002015-08-06T20:11:45.312+12:00Actually, who knows what Corbyn would be like give...Actually, who knows what Corbyn would be like given power and responsibility. But still, the whole thing can't be any worse than that Republican clown car – oops, sorry, now that Trump's in it of course it's the clown limousine – going on in the US :-).Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-37840422326515393422015-08-06T19:50:30.843+12:002015-08-06T19:50:30.843+12:00Hi Chris
What I think is going on everywhere ...Hi Chris<br /> What I think is going on everywhere to some extent is that people who don't normally take any interest in politics , are seeing that their economies are not working for the vast majority of them, but only and massively, for a few. Its the public searching in a political desert for fairer system that is seeking out Syrisa the SNP and Corbyn that has brought them to notice rather than that they are offering something different to what they offered in the past.<br />Cheers David J Sdavid Stonenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-70797856562227120422015-08-06T19:04:11.506+12:002015-08-06T19:04:11.506+12:00Did anybody at the time consider that the actions ...Did anybody at the time consider that the actions of the Labour !!! Government might have been unconstitutional as per the party's rules?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-38844740856462964442015-08-06T17:50:06.717+12:002015-08-06T17:50:06.717+12:00I certainly didn't see it coming or I wouldn&#...I certainly didn't see it coming or I wouldn't have voted for the buggers. I mean there may have been indications, but if there were I missed them. Or foolishly thought that there was actually another way short of fucking up the country for years. There was certainly no inkling of the EXTREME right wing social engineering that was about to take place as I remember it. It was probably the most unethical political action in years.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-1143396048351328282015-08-06T17:25:42.595+12:002015-08-06T17:25:42.595+12:00Wow, no comments so far! I'd read about a para...Wow, no comments so far! I'd read about a paragraph and it got me thinking of 'How on earth did Roger Douglas contemplate joining the the then Labour Party and then implement what he did?" <br /><br />Did we see it coming? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-69713384966075768452015-08-06T16:41:23.105+12:002015-08-06T16:41:23.105+12:00It's not my business, Chris, but I'm sad t...It's not my business, Chris, but I'm sad to learn you've sundered a friendship over a political disagreement. By the time you reach our advanced ages, you're likely to have changed your mind multiple times over all manner of issues. But friendships can normally survive such twists and turns. But, as I say, it's not my business.Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-29142691460503240942015-08-06T16:20:18.747+12:002015-08-06T16:20:18.747+12:00I entirely agree with you, Chris, about the signif...I entirely agree with you, Chris, about the significance of Corbyn's sudden and extraordinary ascendance.<br />I notice one UK commentator saying that this might inspire disaffected votes in Australia and NZ to similarly take a public stand against the bipartisan neo-liberal consensus. Sadly, I can't see anyone in our Parliament, or even outside it, who could rally the left the way Corbyn is doing. <br />Can you? (See anyone, I mean, not rally them yourself of course.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-65055251649431872862015-08-06T16:17:15.924+12:002015-08-06T16:17:15.924+12:00A good and insightful article. I am picking what w...A good and insightful article. I am picking what will bring him down is his support for illegal immigrants to receive "as right" all the support services that Britain gives to its citizens. This matter is becoming a political nightmare in Brit politics and Jeremy Corbyn is stating in no uncertain terms his support for benefits and services for every-one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-91341992708516580512015-08-06T15:51:08.507+12:002015-08-06T15:51:08.507+12:00I should imagine that the Tories are delighted to ...I should imagine that the Tories are delighted to see Corbyn in the lead. His election would almost guarantee that they would win the next election. Michael Foot anyone?Jigsawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13906156865367357834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-4507021426472213452015-08-06T13:28:58.906+12:002015-08-06T13:28:58.906+12:00I helped out on Corbyn's campaign in 1997. He ...I helped out on Corbyn's campaign in 1997. He always referred to himself as a 'socialist'. Islington people didn't seem to mind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-26650588279358736222015-08-06T12:12:26.195+12:002015-08-06T12:12:26.195+12:00You are right hat he is no great orator. But he sp...You are right hat he is no great orator. But he speaks plainly and fluently enough. Mostly he radiates decency. You could imagine him as a friend - saying "Hello Jeremy what's up?" to him. Very interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com