Jeremy Corbyn vs Angela Eagle

xp the finest word: bagel.

There's a Corbyn press conference mainly about the NHS on Sky News right now.
& one point has just come up about the train thing that hasn't been emphasised elsewhere to my knowledge. Corbyn was travelling as a group with other people and there wasn't enough room for them all to sit down so it isn't just need for one or two seats.

As an onlooker I don't get the ins and outs of #traingate, but I find it chilling that a private company can release it's camera footage for political gain without any privacy concerns. wtf?

Fuller story from that Sky coverage of the NHS press conference which BBC don't seem to have been covering for some reason.
Corbyn was looking for two seats together so he could sit with his wife and do preparatory work for the hustings that were happening in Gateshead (? or Newcastle, one Geordie town anyway) later that day. That detail was only filled in after I posted earlier.
He had been offered an upgrade to 1st class which he turned down and could only be seated with wife and perhaps another couple of entourage when the rail staff upgraded a family to 1st class.

But the fact that there is any controversy about this when it seems that the seating situation is a constant from what I'm hearing from people here and elsewhere seems majorly dodgy.
Sky News got given a detailed explanation by Corbyn which the reporter still doesn't seem satisfied by.
Seems to be a pretty straightforward thing to me.

At this point Corbyn could argue that being buried up to the neck in dogshit is a bad thing and people would react furiously against it.

People (well, the press a least) are convinced that support for Corbyn is zealous, so this is all 'what do you think of your messiah now?!'. I have no real thoughts on Corbyn except that he represents the side of the political spectrum I am on, and I think a lot of people are the same. I have no illusions about some 'immaculate politican'.

Saving Labour types are *really* invested in/excited by this traingate story, to a greater extent than any of the more substantial controversies that Corbyn has faced - these ppl seem to have a bee in their bonnet about Corbyn supporters apparently thinking that their man has a monopoly on virtue and principles in the Labour party, they are really determined to believe that Corbyn has been caught telling a straightforward untruth/behaving like a "typical politician"

Yep - hypocrisy is the only modern sin.

saying "What you won't get from me is some lunatic at the top of the Labour Party" was a response to "owen during this campaign you've been running around like a lunatic" rather than an implication that jeremy corbyn is a lunatic is such a blatant ass-covering lie

Wondering why Owen Smith changing his line to 'if he gets in he will stop Theresa May from triggering article 50' from 'he will hold a 2nd referendum' is deemed worthy of headline status. Seems like the 2nd non story of the day

Virgin trying to discredit Corbyn on trains can't possibly have anything to do with Virgin Health's role in creeping NHS privatisation, right? ;-)

he was on the today programme this morning and john humphrys said "here's owen smith and he's holding a press conference today to announce that he'd have a second referendum because he says voters didn't know the deal they were voting on is that correct?" and owen smith said "yes that's correct apart from I'm not holding a press conference today to announce it" and john humphrys said "ok you're saying it today" and owen smith said "yes I'm saying it" - headline news

Why weren't the BBC covering the NHS press conference?
I just happened to flick channels and found JC on Sky. Not sure what was going on on BBC. Stories about extra strong MDMA or something as in its back to the strength it was when it first appeared according to one talking head they had on.

It's obviously more newsworthy and then them reporting Smith's new line rather than JC is trying to outline some policy,well you need to prioritise don't you? JC can't find the seats together he needs is more important than the state of the trains he's riding on.
How are other politicians getting around these days anyway?
Also him turning down the upgrade does seem rather virtuous doesn't it? Can't see how else to interpret that. Glad that presumably the same offer of an upgrade morphed into something that benefited a bystander. Wonder if that'll be looked into further. Hate to think the upgrade went to the wrong people now.

Saving Labour have released a model of how Smith could supposedly win. It involves him getting 62% of the registered supporters/£25 vote, which seems a little optimistic

https://twitter.com/georgeeaton/status/768458503694454784

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/passengers-dispute-virgin-trains-version-of-jeremy-corbyn-sitting-on-floor-video-a7205631.html

How long before this fucking thing is over? I mean I know we probably have to go through it all over again in about 10 months' time but fucking hell.

answer a: exactly a month's time (24 sept)
answer b: literally never, nothing will ever again be decided, everything will be unendingly relitigated forever

Having taken 6 hours to do a supposedly 4 hour journey last night and just missed my connection tonight I have no fucking patience for this bullshit. Trains are fucked in this shithole country and anyone who thinks otherwise is fucking deluded.

Must be somewhat recognised by now. Just saw a comedy routine on the Live at the Comedy Store show where teh comedian spent most of his routine going on about the ghastly state of the Uk train network.
But it was viewed as ridiculous by the people they got on for Newsnight last night. I think both of whom had been connected to previous labour leaderships. Just wondering if journalists in London really are out of touch with what must be an everyday state of things for a lot of people across the country.
I thought the situation with Southern rail was pretty constantly in the news for the last couple of months.

plenty of London journos live in Brighton, so well aware

Smith's persistent question from tonight's hustings seems all too creepy. Was it a last ditch attempt to turn the crowd against Corbyn? I'd heard he'd asked once about whether or not Corbyn had voted Remain or not and thought it was a bit snide but to keep coming back asking about it as an unanswered question.

Hoping this is one of the last times we hear from the nebbish. If he returns to the back benches is he likely to be brought back from obscurity again?

Smith's repeated suggestion that Corbyn had secretly voted leave was bizarre. I can't imagine how that would win over any undecided voters, it just looks tawdry, and trivialises what should arguably be an area where Smith has an advantage: Corbyn has always been anti-EU, probably would have backed a leave vote had he not become leader, and is somewhat out of step with a lot of his supporters on this issue. unless he knows that "I don't think Jeremy voted remain" stuff doesn't convince anyone in itself, but has decided was to say something deliberately inflammatory so that Corbyn supporters get outraged and the conversation stays focused on this particular issue where he thinks Corbyn is vulnerable?

this was wonderful:

https://twitter.com/jeremyforlabour/status/768896822899159040

I don't understand, even if he had secretly wanted to leave, why he wouldn't just have voted to remain? It's a very minor thing compared to what he could do with his position.

Boris doesn't get the same level of shit and he probably really did secretly vote Remain.

xp yeah, the argument that he secretly would be quite happy for Britain to leave the EU and was therefore half-hearted in the referendum campaign, and that his opposition to the EU is why he won't back Smith's call for a second referendum has some logic to it at least, the argument that he literaly put his x next to the leave option in the polling booth seems ridiculous

that his opposition to the EU is why he won't back Smith's call for a second referendum has some logic to it at least

would require there to be some logic to smith's call for a second referendum

I thought he'd notably switched from that to preventing Theresa May from triggering article 50 or that seemed to be what the BBC News had switched it to earlier this week. I missed a lot of the hustings last night so presume he was back saying both there. Mainly caught the last half hour. But enough to see the audience reaction to him saying that line about you could stay with jeremy which was pretty great.

I heard last night that the Labour Party is continuing a major purge including people who'd been in the party for years.
Is that going to stop or be stopped even after next month's election results or is the party just going to continue until it implodes?

Thought the Huffington Post headline about JC not being reachable during Traingate cos he was busy making jam quite amusing too.

I do wonder how many people are being blocked from voting in this election and whether the numbers will be large enough to affect the outcome. There is def a race to purge one side or the other:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37184118

In other news it looks like the Labour conference isn't going ahead.

"verifying all voters share the aims and values of the Labour Party".

At least 80% of the PLP would fail this filter, the same fuckers that share Tory values on austerity but pay lip service otherwise. repeating myself here, sorry.

In fairness Boris got a lot of (completely deserved) shit which torpedoed his shot at PM. They just took him down quickly.

Smith has been quite blatantly lying about the number of refugees in his constituency, but hey Jeremy Corbyn walked past some seats on a train so who's the real liar here?

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/08/yesterday-showed-us-real-owen-smith-and-it-aint-pretty

I enjoyed this takedown yesterday.

In other news it looks like the Labour conference isn't going ahead.

― xyzzzz__, Friday, August 26, 2016 9:47 AM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I heard something about that and trouble with the security at the start of the week. then there was a piece on Newsnight a couple of nights back but I thought that ended with them saying that they'd probably be able to find a new Security firm before then.

Security companies need a lot more time than is currently available to prepare for such big events is the current problem. Iain McNicol will soon be available as a childrens's party planner or for pissups in breweries etc

xp

Boris didn't seem to get much stick about his abruptly reversed stance on the EU though. I didn't hear anyone casting doubt on his secret voting intentions.

In other news it looks like the Labour conference isn't going ahead.

first bit of good news for the party in a while

not convinced what boris thinks abt anything currently has much salience tbh

He got shitloads of stick for it, but mostly some time before the referendum, whereas the insinuations about Corbyn really gathered speed in the week or so beforehand.

Since it's pretty straightforward to trace how individuals vote, someone will have checked Corbyn's ballot paper at the time. If he had voted leave, it would have leaked within hours.

first bit of good news for the party in a while

― I like it when you shoot inside me Dirk (Bananaman Begins), Friday, 26 August 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes and yet if Jeremy wins I was looking fwd to a no more mr. kind politics approach as the PURGE begins.

I've been following this twitter account er 'commemorating' the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Cultural revolution. I won't link but if you all want to know how it was done in the #goodOldDays

No conèrence isn't going to mean a change in election deadline is it?
Mean they drag it out still further before launching whatever other ploy is up their sleeves before everybody wakes up to the correct form of centrism?

if conference is cancelled, presumably Momentum's fringe event/rival conference (delete according to your opinion of Corbyn) will still be going ahead? I'm sure that will help with the post-leadership election amity

I was thinking that the leadership election deadline was placed to tie in with the National conference. With that element of the equation gone will the centre/labour right be looking for an excuse to extend things. Or will they give up on this strategy and move onto some other ruse.
From what I'm seeing so far they're not going to be happy if Corbyn gets reelected which seems likely.
So do wonder what's next.

Struggle sessions, deselections ... nah probably just more of the same shit to come next unfortunately.

the Wearing piece is v good. this is more or less what I wanted to say y/day:

Let’s be honest. Most of us at some stage have used casual language like this (“lunatic”, “insane”), to describe those whose rationality we don’t share or understand. I’ll admit to having done so myself. But it is wrong. It perpetuates a stigma around mental illness and damages peoples’ chances of getting the care and support they need from society. We should all cut it out, especially those of us who aspire to high public office.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/owen-smith-labour-leadership-kezia-dugdale-laugh-entryism-a7211131.html

OH THE IRONING

How is it possible for this to get any worse? But here we are..

Yeah, being concerned that Scottish Labour members should show total support for the leader of the SLP doesn't look good from someone who called the leader of the Labour Party a lunatic yesterday.

Seems fair.

http://i.imgur.com/67KiWi1.png

fair enough tbh :p

yeah I think we can come together as a party to ban Grohlite entryists