Jeremy Corbyn vs Angela Eagle

Did he get into some kind of surreal internet beef with Sturgeon or was that totally unprompted? Because it's just bizarre out of context.

Is there time to start a Normal Owen Smith Twitter account?

I mean presumably she gets to take the gobstopper out when Smith needs the votes in any putative hung parliament.

i think we all know Owen's never gonna be in that position. including Owen.

tragically, Doc Cox is still alive. Probably doing some routine with a spinning bow tie whilst joshing about how big his dick is somewhere. Yes, definitely a credible comparison there.

maybe Owen's just having some fun with the part now.

Did he get into some kind of surreal internet beef with Sturgeon or was that totally unprompted? Because it's just bizarre out of context.

the tweet is from April this year, so presumably he was in Millport campaigning for Labour in the Scottish elections and that's why he mentioned Sturgeon. but it's still pretty bizarre

I hadn't seen the first responses under the tweet (again from back in April) which are maybe the best part

http://i.imgur.com/upiu3xe.png

I figured he came up with the 'joke' ('a gobstopper, need to say it's for somebody') then eliminated targets he couldn't get away with. Though finding out it's from April scuppers that a bit.

Some of you ppl know this photoship business right? Can someone fix that time stamp for today at 9am. I need to laugh a bit more.

Luke Akehurst
‏@lukeakehurst

.@jk_rowling has made me cry on the coach on way home with her list of amazing things Labour did in power. Contrast w now devastating.

wtf

I'm guessing she will have conveniently not mentioned the '07 welfare reforms that Labour brought in while she wasn't a single parent spinning yarns about elves.

the only good thing about the collapse of the labour party: getting to laugh at how butthurt new labourite scum are to have lost control of the party

wonder if she mentioned the iraq war, the pfi fiascos, jack straw freeing general Pinochet, the erosion of civil liberties etc etc

Poverty expeliarum!

Forget even all that - for someone who goes on about being on welfare at a tough time before her fkn book deal why does she support that part of Labour which has continuously undermined the welfare state (being actively ashamed of it), votes or abstains on cuts to the welfare budget pre-Corbyn?

Wasn't even gonna bring this here -- someone I've not spent more than 10 secs thinking about till now -- but that tweet is glorious. Need to really kick 'em while they are down. xp

The poll on the membership giving Corbyn a clear victory had the breakdown that more women than men supported Corbyn. Other profiles of Corbyn's support show that poor/struggling people are on Corbyn's side, i.e. women in pre-book deal JK Rowling.

Is Harry Potter garbage? I've not read or seen the films. btw don't answer that I don't want to know.

Harry Potter is great, but don't look at the politics.

Garry Kasparov ‏@Kasparov63 38m38 minutes ago
Of course @jk_rowling understands Corbyn's Socialism is an attempt at magic! But in our Muggle world, hard work & common sense are required.

It's like everything i hate rolled into one tweet.

idgaf one way or another about Rowling tbh. I don't think she has much of interest to say, much of what she does say is wrong and the people venerating her because she paid tax on her income and 'is probably no longer even a billionaire' are weird but she has a consistent and deeply held set of beliefs. On the Twitter 'celebrity' front Frances Barber and Mitch Benn seem actively worse.

i have a strange emotional attachment to the books but they're not great on any levels, Rowling is an idiot, i can't decide if it's 1952 in her head or if that's just a symptom of her plagiarism

can understand how Blairites would venerate an underdeveloped class-ridden white bread dystopia tho

People I'm never gonna read: JK Rowling, Caitlin Moran, Orwell..

its 1997 in her head, where things became better 4evah and we are all rich, own our homes and have iron-secure jobs and live happily ever after.

Hogwarts' catering and student roster is strictly pre-multiculturalism

On the Twitter 'celebrity' front Frances Barber and Mitch Benn seem actively worse.

Lord, I've managed to avoid even thinking about Mitch Benn for several years now, but it figures that he would have some bracing "common-sense" opinions re: Corbyn

who knew that in years to come i would be able to look back fondly on September 1 2016 as the last day of my life when i was unaware of Mitch Benn?

nah kidding i'll have forgot this no-mark by Monday tops

managing to be the least funny thing on the Now Show is a pretty impressive achievement tbf

He went on a long Twitter jag yesterday about how what Labour needed was to dispense with "left" and "right" opinions and base all policy on rationalism and empirical facts.

@laaauuureeens
@MitchBenn @francesbarber13 you can't be outside of ideology

Mitch Benn ‏@MitchBenn Sep 1

Try me

That's the good stuff.

I never ever switch on Radio 4 (only remember listening to it if I happen to be in a taxi) - they must have some fucking characters in that place.

xp. god that's probably my most hated canard in any sphere of human activity

i have to listen to Today in the morning because John Humphrys makes me one iota less murderous than Nicky Campbell

Xp No, I'm pretty sure rationalism and empirical facts say "fuck the poor".

base all policy on rationalism and empirical facts.

this is the worst opinion

it's an empirical fact that the kids who bullied Mitch Benn at school are Trot vermin who should die

Like where to begin with this as a way of conducting politics - oh wait *looks at polls, technocrats, endless management*

Corbyn is elected in 2015: at least no more embarrassment over welfare, some anti-imperialism, no more 'listening on immigration'. This re-orientation might be nice.

Corbyn is re-elected in 2016: prays for a re-run of full scale Maoism on these bastards.

Led by Corbyn and driven home by my beautiful thugs in Momentum, natch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yszh_KxeUWU

fucking hate the guy, but he is hilariously otm there

my feelings exactly

that's his job, to be hateable and otm.

(Not shareable and ohm, stupid spelling corrector)

some of his sneery disablist stuff is unacceptable imo, but it is quite easy to ignore him.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/03/corbyn-to-pledge-30bn-to-restore-pride-and-prosperity-to-south-east-england

This is good, and the sort of thing he should have been doing more of all along.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
It's Friday night, I want a drink & some peace. Before I go, a few stats for the people who like their socialism mouthy and impotent.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
It's Friday night, I want a drink & some peace. Before I go, a few stats for the people who like their socialism mouthy and impotent.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
600,000 — The number of children lifted out of poverty in the eight years following New Labour's 1999 child poverty pledge.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
175,000 — The number of extra apprentices between 1997 and 2007.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
103,000 — The number of extra teaching assistants between 1997 and 2007.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
81,000 — The number of extra nurses in the NHS between 1997 and 2007.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
39,000 — The number of extra doctors in the NHS between 1997 and 2007.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
39,000 — The number of extra teachers between 1997 and 2007.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
69 — By March 2009, waiting times for a hospital appointment in England had fallen by 69% on March 1997.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
61 — In 2010/11, spending on benefits and child tax credits had risen in real terms by 61% on 1996/97.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
50 — By March 2009, the number of people on in-patient waiting lists in England had dropped by 50% on March 1997.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
Three — By the end of the last Labour government, the UK was the third-highest spender on family benefits of any country the the OECD.

J.K. Rowling ‏@jk_rowling 23h23 hours ago
Call people like me 'Tory Lite.' Call us 'neoliberals.' Call us whatever the hell you want. Call me back when your achievements match those.

Obviously I think the last one misses the point, but I thought it worth reprinting the tweets, partly because some people here seem to have a funny idea of what she was actually saying, and partly to underline the fact that Frankie Boyle should be shot into the sun.

Never much cared for Boyle but his Guardian columns since GE2015 have been tremendous.

Yes, I think The Guardian didn't publish one of his a couple of months ago so it went up elsewhere. Mostly good.

As for those figures I don't think anyone is denying the '97 Labour government did a few things that immediately helped people (although I think health spending and extra teachers have gone up under most governments) but the arguments against that government are also clear (yes including Iraq, and no I don't care if you are bored by that).

More importantly we need things to change underneath on the way things are run and done. Any increases of spending and apprentices are just stuff waiting to be scaled back when economic winds change.

Well unless someone's going to go back in time and do something to convince a generation in favour of compassion and activism, we're probably fucked then.