'Labour MUST Kill Vampire Jezza': The Plot to Destroy Corbyn

[JackRiddler]

Let's be semi-justifiably hopeful. This turn into a two-month victory march for Corbyn and a truly new Labour that sets up for a snap election. Among all the possibilities, why the fuck not?

[coffin_dodger]

Let's hope Corbyn doesn't devolve to the mud-slinging contest that the Blairites revel in.

It's somewhat of a poison chalice, though, isn't it? Supposing Corbyn becomes chief, then PM - he's inheriting a system that includes privatisation of healthcare at breakneck speed, monetisation of everything, celebrity culture, complicit media, oligarch totalitarianism, monarchy from The Middle Age, a collapsing economy predicated on lend, lend, lend (fortunately, we can all blame Brexit), a populace that is perhaps the most multi-cultural accepting in The West - but are branded as racists, a people with a gambling addiction that funnels vast treasure to offshore shysters (how many online bingo and casino ads in the UK these days?), a banking/monetary system that is almost universally disliked and a welfare system that puts mentally ill people in prison with the underprivileged - and ignores the indigent. I've scratched the surface but begin to bore even myself.

Having said that, any change has to start somewhere, I guess.

[JackRiddler]

Let's hope Corbyn doesn't devolve to the mud-slinging contest that the Blairites revel in.

It's somewhat of a poison chalice, though, isn't it? Supposing Corbyn becomes chief, then PM - he's inheriting a system that includes privatisation of healthcare at breakneck speed, monetisation of everything, celebrity culture, complicit media, oligarch totalitarianism, monarchy from The Middle Age, a collapsing economy predicated on lend, lend, lend (fortunately, we can all blame Brexit), a populace that is perhaps the most multi-cultural accepting in The West - but are branded as racists, a people with a gambling addiction that funnels vast treasure to offshore shysters (how many online bingo and casino ads in the UK these days?), a banking/monetary system that is almost universally disliked and a welfare system that puts mentally ill people in prison with the underprivileged - and ignores the indigent. I've scratched the surface but begin to bore even myself.

Having said that, any change has to start somewhere, I guess.

Theoretically he has the opportunity to directly address most of the above directly and by name in the coming campaign (most of the top things on your list), which his supporters should treat as a goddamn gift from the inept Blairites -- an opportunity to upstage the new government and everything else and set a new agenda over two months time. (Pragmatically however I'd hold off on mentioning decapitation of the monarchy for a second term, and go light on the gambling. People are awfully sensitive about their core vices.)

.

[MacCruiskeen]

Liverpool, yesterday:

Momentum ‏@PeoplesMomentum 20 Std.vor 20 Stunden

Amazing scenes as massive crowds turn out to support @jeremycorbyn on a rainy Monday evening! #Liverpool4JC

[AhabsOtherLeg]

But both Corbyn and McDonnell are old left (not old old left tho), so their ancien regime antagonisms to the SNP...

Don't worry, I don't dislike either of them, and I think I understand their opposition to Scottish independence (I shared large parts of their view of it up until about 8-9 years ago). They are in a difficult position, to put it mildly. Given the general media drive to impugn their patriotism and paint them as enthusiastic traitors, I can see that if they hope to win any support at all from traditional Labour voters in England and Wales they must be seen to loudly oppose the SNP, who are perceived as skilled and efficient graspers who are out for increased Barnett cash. They probably do oppose them strongly in their hearts and minds as well, out of a belief in the British Road To Socialism (lol, that's some old shit right there). That's all fine.

But I just keep remembering a bit from Norman Mailer's "Harlot's Ghost." The cynical CIA head (and pro-Soviet traitor) says to his protege after the Cambridge Ring is unmasked something like: "Scratch an English conservative, and you'll find a socialist underneath."

I would add to that: "Scratch an English socialist, and you'll find a British nationalist underneath." Not a nationalist in the Nick Griffin sense, of course, or some weird Anglo-Saxon supremacist like Alan Clark, but a UK nationalist nonetheless - a believer in the Union, in it's inherent rightness, with an almost mystical adherence to it's institutions. We are talking about a country where the head of the Communist Party once advocated retaining the Queen as head of state after the revolution lol. Harry Pollitt. Some boy. He probably would've instituted a tea ration as well, so we could all have an equal number of cups, regardless of our station.

The only thing funnier than the idea of British Socialism is British International Socialism. It hasn't got it's passport out since the Spanish Civil War, lol. It doesn't even extend to Ireland. I love that folk in the UK can go around calling themselves international socialists just because they're not opposed to their taxes being used for the redevelopment of Cardiff bay.

What was my point here again? Oh aye - slagging off the current state of socialism in Britain while suggesting no practical or even theoretical solutions whatsoever. Mission accomplished.

Like I say though, there's no compelling reason I can see why those hateful Corbynistas and the revolting Cybernats should oppose one another.

[Harvey]

You're gonna enjoy this inspired rant.

[RocketMan]

Ffffuuuuuuu

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... rship-vote

Labour’s ruling body has won its bid to overturn a high court decision allowing new party members to vote in the forthcoming leadership election, a ruling that could bar thousands of pro-Corbyn supporters from voting in the ballot.

The ruling by three court of appeal judges, Lord Justice Beatson, Lady Justice Macur and Lord Justice Sales, will mean 130,000 new members who joined less than six months ago will now not be able to vote in the forthcoming poll between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith for the Labour leadership.

The imposition of a freeze date so that full members would not be able to vote if they had not had continuous party membership for at least six months was decided on 12 July, in part to reduce the administrative burden of verifying thousands of new members.

However, McNicol’s evidence at the court of appeal made it clear Labour was concerned about a subversion of the voting process, with members joining with the sole purpose of voting in the election rather than participating in the party more widely.

What of it if someone joins the party just to vote for the leader...??!! There's no goddamn litmus test for the "wider participation in the party" for the existing members... Jesus Fucking Christ. I've been a member for a political party for years, been just paying the dues, and no one has ever given me shit about not participating more widely. It's absurd.

[Rory]

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jer ... 87456.html

Labour’s win in the Court of Appeal, ruling in favour of blocking the 130,000 supporters who have joined Labour since January, is the final kiss of death for the Party. Yes, the NEC has regained control of the party regulations and undermined Jeremy Corbyn’s authority somewhat, but they have effectively poured petrol onto an already out-of-control bonfire. What was the point in this charade, considering it can’t have actually secured a victory for Owen Smith? The only reasonable consequence is that Corbyn will win again, by a slightly reduced margin.

To add insult to injury, the five members who fought against the ruling now have to cough up £30,000 in legal fees within 28 days. I can’t imagine they’re going to be over the moon about that.

They'd rather murder suicide immolate than have an organized and cohesive, left of center, social democratic opposition party.

B'liar has sired quite the legacy in British Politics

[MacCruiskeen]

video, 51 secs:

Labour leadership debate
The undecideds are asked if they have decided - Corbyn or Smith?

https://twitter.com/VictoriaLIVE/status ... 7244871681

hee hee

[Rory]

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/st ... respectful

The Staggers
17 August 2016
By Julia Rampen

Why Jeremy Corbyn's disdain for pop culture is so disrespectful

It's OK not to know about celebrities. But they do matter.

[MinM]

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/7 ... 0436261888

[MacCruiskeen]

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/08/why-jeremy-corbyns-disdain-pop-culture-so-disrespectful

The Staggers
17 August 2016
By Julia Rampen

Why Jeremy Corbyn's disdain for pop culture is so disrespectful

It's OK not to know about celebrities. But they do matter.

That must be in the running for "Worst Article Ever Written".

[JackRiddler]

video, 51 secs:

Labour leadership debate
The undecideds are asked if they have decided - Corbyn or Smith?

https://twitter.com/VictoriaLIVE/status ... 7244871681

hee hee

Snowballs. Trotskyist infiltrators, every single one. Grrrrrrrrr munch crunch bite bite.

[JackRiddler]

.

That really is the dumbest article I ever read.

This writer may indeed know details of celebrity culture better than Jeremy Corbyn or myself (certainly with regard to the UK), but she does not actually get celebrity culture. Nowadays holding celebrity culture in disdain is an essential attraction of celebrity culture for a majority of the audience. That is especially true among those under 40 or 50, who have grown up bathing in irony as the common insulation against the daily devils of insecurity, precarity, and the dread of not knowing fuck-all about what it all means and where it's heading.

By contrast, I endeavor to guess that those who take their celebrity culture straight (i.e., as if it is "real" and actually matters, without irony) are the least politically involved and most irrelevant segment of the population. They are sort of like those who sincerely believed professional wrestling was real, back in the age of "old" kayfabe. (Old kayfabe in wrestling would have been the century before the tacit admission of fakeness became part of the show, after which everything went postmodern and multi-level.) They are the non-voters, even in the UK. They also aren't reading The New Statesman, or any other middle-brow toss like that.

Meanwhile, most people who watch Kardashians or the rest of the celebrity rot are participating in the "new" kayfabe. In other words, they watch that shit partly in order to congratulate themselves as too smart to take that shit seriously. Most of these celebrities are stupid or play stupid, and their audiences enjoy feeling smarter or morally superior to them (which, actually, they generally are). And it's this that helps them to keep watching, much in the same way they might also fatten up on ice cream while wrapping their guilt about it in ironic protestations. Ironic reception substitutes for a harsher superego and allows the payoff of the empty calories.*

Thus this writer manages either to be dumber than, or at least to play dumber than, the average Kardashian watchers she condescends to with her fatuous piece. It takes an educated snob who basically hates the common people to be this bad at pretending to relate to them.

This badly misfired hit-piece is also disgraceful in its key omission. Its premise of the TV-illiterate Corbyn takes off from Corbyn's obviously fun-making responses to the initial "personality" questions of the Victoria Derbyshire double interview with Smith. His show of not caring about non-political bullshit that has nothing to do with the job of being a political leader sends a clear message: Whether or not you care about the bullshit, you know that it doesn't matter in the question of who should run the damn government. You're a smart person and you want a grown-up in charge. This earns him respect from the majority, whether they're munching on Kardashians or not. This was the same broadcast linked to by MacC above, the one where the initial undecideds almost all moved to Corbyn's side at the end; the key fact that Julia Rampen neglects to mention.

Maybe Corbyn knows what the fuck he's doing after all?

===

* Not that much unlike having a post-a-thon on RI, by the way, where imagining yourself clever makes up for getting to rant pointlessly to an audience of sixteen all day.

[RocketMan]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 17391.html

Jeremy Corbyn is on course for a landslide victory in Labour leadership race, according to a new poll showing him leading Owen Smith, his contender, by 24 points.

A YouGov survey for The Times of those entitled to vote in the contest puts the current Labour leader on 62 per cent with Mr Smith trailing on 38 per cent.

The Labour leader, who has remained defiant in the face of a coup from his parliamentary colleagues, has majority support among all three groups that are eligible to vote in the contest - full members, registered supporters and union affiliates.

The results would represent an increase in support from Mr Corbyn compared to the results of the 2015 leadership election – where he won 59.5 per cent of members' vote.