"we'll change the things that need changing and that's all we'll change": the paSUKification of post-brexit politics 2021

pic.twitter.com/bVhXIeMMBo

— bread and poses (@breadandposes) May 8, 2021

Labour's majority in Batley & Spen is 3,525. The Brexit Party won 1,678 votes there in 2019. Not exactly a huge mountain for the Tories to climb.

— Max Shanly (@maxshanly) May 8, 2021

This thread will follow the catastrophe, every step of the way 👍

apparently Rayner was having a promotion commiserating drink in the pub last night

I think the Batley mayoral results will be out today

West Yorkshire even, Batley hasn't been nominated as the capital yet

batley for capitol, nips for mayor
https://i.imgur.com/xOI6FtC.jpg

probably loads of stalwarts of Batley’s goth scene that used to frequent the Xclusiv club in the 80's are corrupt local councillors now!

"West Yorkshire's first-ever metro mayor will be announced on Sunday in a seismic moment for the county."

lol the carved heads of 19th century mill owners will crumble and fall from buildings that have been converted into luxury apartments.

Just assume everything I post itt has the sickos picture after it.

Senior Labour source tells me that when Shadow Cabinet members complained to Keir Starmer’s office about the terrible lines they were given to take to the media after the Hartlepool disaster, they were told Peter Mandelson had signed them off.

— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) May 9, 2021

this is the new thread and the other shd be locked, yes, YESSS!!!

How can we destroy these good results.

One result of this brainrot is that Khan's final result vs Bailey (55% vs 45%) – better than *both* of Johnson's London efforts (51.5/48.5 & 53/47) – can't be talked about as the positive result it is & that it's *good* that progressive London can register dissent *and* back him.

— James B (@piercepenniless) May 9, 2021

Keir Starmer is "electable" but can't win elections , he is "professional" but does things really badly - these terms are used by the media to describe aesthetic states , the look of 'electabilty' and 'professionalism', that are unrelated to the actual common meaning of the words

— Solomon Hughes (@SolHughesWriter) May 8, 2021

nothing that hasn't been said before, but Hughes has been consistently good at calmly dissecting the hot twaddle that the likes of Toynbee and Freedland write about Kieth.

Toynbee literally said he is electable and if voters disagree it’s on them, satire is dead

Small in the scheme of things, but just thinking about that cunty tweet Starmer's people did about Mikel Arteta when Arsenal were having that terrible run before christmas. Hope Arteta has allowed himself at least a small chuckle at all this

would love to see him go head to head with Jez in an Arsenal pub quiz, he'd get fucking skinned.

Just surrounded himself with these ppl.

Here is Labour's new strategy director laughing at @survation for correctly identifying Labour's surge in the 2017 election. https://t.co/pkaVhOxxPb

— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 8, 2021

not the first time a bearded prophet was sneered at by a mob of half-witted fools!

Tim Shipman has the wrong end of the stick, Kier Starmer’s wife has banned him from playing Champ Man.

It was for his own good, he kept getting Man City relegated.

lol

Chipping Norton (Oxfordshire) council result:

Lab: 42.6% (+8.5)
Con: 40.9% (-4.3)
Grn: 10.9% (+8.2)
LDem: 5.6% (-10.6)

Lab GAIN from Con

Bananaman: what did KS say about Arteta? I can't remember and can't find it.

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

... no, hold on, that was Angela Rayner.

xxp

I'm getting reports that Oxford are also shutting out the Reds

Problem for Labour is the realignment is still relatively asymmetric. Worthings are relatively few compared to the much speedier realignment towards the Tories in the north and midlands.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 9, 2021

"problem" talk is almost entirely poll-focused = arse backwards = why the Labour Party is such a fucking mess now mostly

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/09/woman-sexually-harassed-by-ex-hartlepool-mp-says-labour-failed-to-support-her

Brabin has won so there will be another by-election to look forward to.

she got 30 000+ more first pref votes than the Tory man-boy, not quite Burnham level but an impressive win for her.

by-elections are good again

itll be a real test for starmers labour

there is a big Muslim vote in Batley, so a good chance of a lower than 2019 turnout and the Tories to win by a few thousand.

if Kieth is looking for a good chippy there is one called Howies that has been there since the 50's and does their own house special "Irish Curry Sauce". Some people might tell him to fuck off though!

I'm sure his team have already briefed him that working class people eat chips - and little else - in advance of any visit to the constituency.

as in Biffa Bacon in the north people just go up to chip shop counter and grunt "fuckin' chips"

Just going to cut and paste this great post from plax at the dying end of the last thread
--

my sense is that politics and labour in particular is so populated by a huge array of think tank people PR hype men and career politicians shuttling back and forth between lobbying westminster and charity, desperately clinging on to the narrow idea world that supports their careers. anything that really challenges this status quo is the real enemy. The ideals of centrism and neoliberalism were supposed to craft a fairly comfortable niche in the end of history for all these people, the overarching hostility to 'populism' etc I think is borne of this. Anything transformative of this status quo is much more challenging to their position than labour becoming even more defanged than they currently are. I think the vaccillating anxiety around what the current tory government are doing from this point of view comes from the way in which they are obvioulsy both in the business of shredding norms (human rights, 'standards') and fortifying others (corporate hegemony, cultural conservatism).

But yeah I agree that they are deeply uninterested in winning power, they already have the kind of power they are interested in. and I agree that its not some 4d chess they're up to just knee-jerk aversion and hostility to anything that upsets basic tenets of what they consider modern approaches (c. 1996) and can thus bizarrely construct the notion of 'free broadband' as something dessicated and backward. They're sincere whey they say this isn't 'grown up' 'sensible' politics but what they mean is really because it upsets their idea of what it is to be a grown up, to move smoothly through a professionalised world where they wear a suit and say things with confidence. I think the career of chuka umunna is pretty instructive. anyway, i'm pretty sure this is the end of the line for the nhs so there's going to be a hell of a lot of consultancy roles for them to fight over once they've completely collapsed the labour party.

― plax (ico)

A senior Labour figure told a meeting with the leader’s office that Angela Rayner was “dressed inappropriately” on a visit to Hartlepool. She was wearing leopard-print trousers, heavy-duty stomper boots and a hoodie.

nice blend of misogyny and classism getting leaked from the Starmer office, vile people.

Runners and riders for Labour selection for Batley and Spen by-election, according to local sources: Salma Arif, Leeds council cabinet member for public health, is who some believe the seat will be "stitched up" for

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 9, 2021

Owen Jones tweet, guessing he is probably not just making this up

The reason the Labour reshuffle isn’t happening is because the shadow ministers Keir Starmer’s team are trying to demote are refusing to move, and are betting the house on the fact Starmer no longer has any political authority.

— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) May 9, 2021

oh please let this be true

it's a bed-in!

with kieth and jenny and the gang

That's that then. Labour loses control of Bristol City Council, ties for biggest party with the Greens on 24 councillors each

— cryskttlty (@cryskttlty) May 9, 2021

Brabin hasn't officially won yet but still

oh they are still counting, lol I thought I figures I saw on my phone were the final count. 90 000 ahead on first prefs

Are these Greens positioned for a real ascendancy or are they a comedy party

the Greens are not positioned for a real ascendancy

Leeds 2nd pref results through.

Brabin (Lab): 20,312 (112,624 total)
Robinson (Con): 11,579 (72,248 total)

greens = 00s lib dems (?)

What happened to the Sensible Party or whatever the labour exiles were calling themselves,

They lost all their seats and then went off to cushy jobs and non-executive directorships.

One shad cab member tells me they'd quite like to know whether it's worth them turning up for work tomorrow. Nearly 7pm Sunday night and unaware if they're invited to tomorrow's meeting.

— Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor) May 9, 2021

lol politicians are such pissy bitches

Brabin (Lab): 49,753 (310,923 total)
Robinson (Con): 32,970 (209,137 total)

Tracy Brabin is officially the new Mayor of West Yorkshire.

now confirmed Kieth has another by-election to lose

So many thinkpieces on ee by gum Northeners deserting the Labour Party to write, so little time.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E05uMwfWYAAQS_i?format=png&name=small

You dirty old man!

BBC liveblog has gone with this image

https://i.postimg.cc/3w0n2rBC/Screenshot-20210509-201105-Chrome.jpg

Tim Shipman hasn’t tweeted since he deleted the tweet yesterday #FreeShippers

— Ed (@emcnally96) May 9, 2021

Today’s Sunday Times highlights Labour’s dire financial straits. If Starmer is considering scrapping shadow cabinet posts to make up costs, would make a reshuffle even harder with less posts to go around. pic.twitter.com/2wLGOrMVT8

— James Heale (@JAHeale) May 9, 2021

"an empty husk of a party" that had over 600 000 members

This isn’t as good as John McDonnell liking a tweet about how the hug emoji is a communist though

he's got absolutely no filter on his likes and it's amazing pic.twitter.com/8QXtdDlZ7X

— Doug (@redandriveting) May 9, 2021

Allies of Nick Brown say he has been sacked as chief whip

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 9, 2021

I don't really see how party discipline has anything to do with any of Kieth's multitude of problems in the last few days. Lol because was a Brown creature maybe he's too left-wing!

NEW: Rachel Reeves is new shadow chancellor, party source confirms.

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) May 9, 2021

well that wasn't going to happen anyway.

Lisa Nandy and Jon Ashworth stay in post
Suggestions that Wes Streeting in line for promotion to a new brief

two of the worst people staying put shocker. Wes making his big entrance into frontline politics.

Rachel Reeves' tweets celebrating a nazi-sympathiser are still up https://t.co/IBdmyAgry7

— Chris (@ChrisKPH) May 9, 2021

Rayner the new shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, lol the promotion she was so happy about last night.

Must be a hell of a hangover

I'm told separately that she wants senior LOTO figures gone. Easy to see why negotiations aren't getting anywhere fast...

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) May 9, 2021

🚨🌹 | NEW: Keir Starmer's new focus will be "work and jobs", says Labour

— Politics For All (@PoliticsForAlI) May 9, 2021

They've given Rayner a million jobs.

Deputy Leader, Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work: Angela Rayner

None of those are real jobs

I can't quite believe I'm saying this, but we have our first briefing war of the new "refreshed and renewed" shadow cabinet. Allies of Starmer deny the briefing below: It "isn't true" https://t.co/TvnxCcQYO5

— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) May 9, 2021

xp

saves a bit of brass I suppose! Corbz used to have to do the same, not because he couldn't afford them like Kieth obv.

Some bemusement in the PLP at Wes Streeting’s new job title: Shadow Secretary of State *FOR* Child Poverty. Are Labour pro that now?

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 9, 2021

Buying them all a Filet O'Fish for tonight's shift

None of those are real jobs

― Scamp Granada (gyac), Sunday, 9 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

The only jobs being created tonight are the junk consultancy roles/Lord seats for this lot after the Tories end up with a 100 seat majority at the next election.

Oh good "child poverty" again is it? Those poor respectable working class children

"respectable working class" was an expression Mandy used earlier. I haven't got a clue what he means!

Confusion over whether Angela Rayner maintains control over party matters, senior to chair and NCC – allies say yes, sources close to leadership say that's wrong.

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) May 9, 2021

Jobs Jobs jobs

The shitposters know

almost feel sorry for her, don't think she's realised that she's a sacrificial lamb warming the seat for Rachel Reeves

— Dr. Professor Sir Bane QC KCB MP (@BaneNook) July 8, 2020

if you've not being getting your Rachel Reeves 5 a day and feel like she has been underexposed, well don't you worry no more

.@LucyMPowell — Labours new shadow housing secretary — is... a landlord.

— Greater Manchester Housing Action (@gmhousingaction) May 9, 2021

I'm going to enjoy watching this party die an ignominious death even more now, especially as it seems to be happening much faster than I thought it would under Starmer

"respectable working class" was an expression Mandy used earlier. I haven't got a clue what he means!

he means white

work and jobs eh? never the twain should meet.

xp I know I know, just feigning ignorance for the sake of a post.

it seems to be happening much faster than I thought it would under Starmer

thank the lord no one stabbed him

heh sorry calz should have realised

Just constantly great work, you hardly even notice pic.twitter.com/HuUjLsHAFT

— Stefan Bielik (@prstskrzkrk) May 9, 2021

I bet Angela felt like strangling the little fucker after every painstakingly over elaborate photo shoot with him!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0-GGiDWEAMTi0c?format=jpg&name=large

this one being the most egregious example!

ftr I'm not classically tall & a little bit short of 6 foot myself and shrinking - not being heightist here - just sticking it to this bleedin' Bonaparte!

I almost feel curious now to check if Burnham does the same thing!

christ no he's much taller than Kieth!

It's fucking sick really, like they'd go to all sorts of excruciating lengths to cover up FDR's disability, and in that era it probably was politically important to do this. But the least of Kieth's problems is that he's 5'6 and his former deputy leader is taller and hotter than him!

Every single time I see Zarah Sultana say anything, it’s always the exact right thing to say, and she never seems to equivocate. Can she run for leader please???

She is very good, but the Labour membership (or whatever remains of them) are a set of arseholes that would vote for Wes before her.

even before many of them so-called lefty Corbynistas or whatever you want to call them deserted the party, they still voted in much greater numbers for Ian Murray for deputy over Dawn Butler.

Political death to have a candidate with a surname the gammon can poke fun at. Let's hope they don't find out what Johnson means!

i think zarah sultana needs time to polish up a bit and she could be a deadly weapon

she makes me feel sad, because I feel like she is destined to be marginalised for a very long time in this horrible party. There is no hope in UK politics for decent human beings, especially if they are woman of colour.

i feel like the thing about AOC for eg is that she also had from the beginning a very strong support base esp locally. the press here would hound her far more ferally and she would be pretty isolated within the party. this is probably in part projection because i can't imagine how awful it would be to stick yr neck out in that way in such nasty times.

apparently our AOC is Babs... captain oates i may be some time

i know im sorry for doing the aoc thing

wasn't having a pop at you there ftr

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1A7A18WUAAhLo4?format=jpg&name=large

is this real ?

xp haha no i know im just ashamed

thread seems mainly otm:

There is one very clear message from this week’s elections. It is that politically the UK is in a very confused state. This needs some discussion. A thread follows.....

— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) May 9, 2021

Locked account: "Keir Starmer has incidentally not tweeted anything since last Thursday, and his only RTs have been of members of the shadow cabinet thanking him for giving them a job"

I am concerned that the next step in our national journey is a Macron-like figure, but more fashy.

xxp agree, makes me think reading some gramsci would be a good idea

If they can keep the economy afloat and reward target areas with investment in services and infrastructure (while punishing solidly Labour ones with austerity), i'm not sure why this model couldn't see them successful for the long-term.

Calzino: sadly no it's not real.

By yesterday evening I started to think that KS seemed like he was going to quit.

Labour had won numerous elections over the weekend, and he hadn't made any kind of statement about any of them: in person at those locations, on camera from London, or even in a tweet.

People would, of course, have savaged JC for such "unprofessional" and "shambolic" conduct.

It almost felt like c.60 years ago when maybe politicians took the weekend off and went to the grouse farm rather than engaging with the media?

I admit that you can be "too online", "it's good to take time off", etc.

But you're the LOTO and your party has just redeemed some of its performance by winning two of the biggest elected positions in the UK? And a whole nation of the UK? And you remain totally silent?

So baffling as to become alarming!

thread seems mainly otm:

Not sure what he means about the right having 'little to do' in an independent Scotland or Wales?

"the Italian philosopher famously said ..."

The Italian Leninist and Communist Party leader famously said

even a voting id requirement with no cost still introduces a barrier to voting, let alone when people have to pay for a driving license or passport. there's no reason to believe voter fraud is a problem in uk elections, but disenfranchisement already is

— michael wave (@SzMarsupial) May 10, 2021

i mean what is twitter if not the "grouse farm" amirite

If they can keep the economy afloat and reward target areas with investment in services and infrastructure (while punishing solidly Labour ones with austerity), i'm not sure why this model couldn't see them successful for the long-term.

― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 10 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

The economy afloat is a big if depending on various factors outside their control. Also the quality of these projects for poorer areas will probably not cut the mustard after a while as Tories will never want to give poor people money.

Their best bet electorally is divided opposition and increased barriers to voting. Basically a return to Victorian-era England without empire or Union.

On bed. Watching Lost =) love it!

— 𝕞𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕒 🙈🙉🙊 (@my3monkees) March 26, 2009

Lol wtf, this is the post.

48% of Black voters have no form of formal photo ID https://t.co/QJnFszLaxF

— Jason Okundaye (@jasebyjason) May 10, 2021

Mark S: yes, the grouse moor.

On bed. Watching Lost =) love it!

— 𝕞𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕒 🙈🙉🙊 (@my3monkees) March 26, 2009

oh sorry, I see that's already been posted

we have to go back

If they can keep the economy afloat and reward target areas

This seems like a big if — Brexit effects haven't really been felt because of suppressed demand during Covid but there are already noises being made by all the transport firms, convenience stores reducing inventories etc.

Suspect we're not going to have Johnson for much longer either – they know they can't reject IndyRef 2 forever, they know they can't fight it with him because he's toxic in Scotland, and if they feel safe from Labour they'll as a result probably indulge themselves in some more Cummings-Gove infighting until Gove takes over on an "I can save the union" pitch. Can Gove (or any of the other possibles) pull off the same mass appeal that Johnson has? It'll be expensive if so.

xp Either that or go full republican voter-suppression I guess, yes.

Sarwar praised for losing seats.

Starmer tells staff Hartlepool was bitterly disappointing but says delighted at Wales and Scotland performances - praising Anas Sarwar and Mark Drakeford.

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) May 10, 2021

Further to earlier discussions about the UK media/political class definitions of 'working class' excluding non-white people, I noticed over the weekend there is another group that's excluded, all the better to fit the narrative, young people. I heard John Curtice commenting on how Labour is losing the working class vote and is now relying on votes from middle class liberals, students and young people and I heard it again today from some Telegraph hack. And, of course, there are no working class people in Liverpool and Manchester.

I think if the grip of useless Lab councils is released this is a step forward of sorts. This is just Tory council behaviour.

What you need to know about Labour losing Durham County Council is that the process was set in motion when the council tried to do a fire and rehire of its teaching assistants in 2016. National politics is relevant, but my have DCC made a pig's ear of it around here.

— Charlotte Austin (@c_j_austin) May 9, 2021

One thing about Lab decline is it will allow other things in their place. Not saying all of them will be good, and it will be painful but at least getting rid of these moribund councils is a step.

Managerial class/Blairite Lab councils have a lot to answer for wherever they have lost to Tories.

All true, and of course there are plenty of old school Blue Labour/entrenched graft local councils for who Blairism was a flag of convenience at best, this rot is very long established

The BBC and other irritants rolling out local voters who are (sometimes inarticulately) expressing this dissatisfaction so smug FBPEs on Twitter can say "look it is the electorate who is bad" are part of the problem and a failure of journalism

I'm sure it's incompetence and not malice tho

too many of them are seemingly quite enthusiastic to make "difficult decisions". I felt like garroting this Labour council creep sat in front of me at a school meeting as he was coldly explaining to someone in tears that it was too bad and there was nothing he could do about their disabled kid's school transport was not being funded any more. He wouldn't even try and explain austerity, just sat there arrogant and smug as fuck with a reproachful "let's be grownups now" look for anyone saying this shit was unacceptable.

The BBC and other irritants rolling out local voters who are (sometimes inarticulately) expressing this dissatisfaction so smug FBPEs on Twitter can say "look it is the electorate who is bad" are part of the problem and a failure of journalism

Endlessly oscillating between contempt for people who have started voting Tory over the last decade and contempt for people who have stuck with Labour over the last decade.

Your reminder that Rayner is no tribune of the Left. https://t.co/T6Tx8n2PdA

— Et tu Keith? (@paulewart23) May 10, 2021

Reminiscent of the state of Scottish labour councils just before they all collapsed seemingly forever

Very interesting line from Starmer at shadow cab - he says he will devote his summer "not having rallies of the faithful but speaking to people who don't vote for us."

Pretty obvious shift there from the previous leadership.

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) May 10, 2021

Focus group are back, awouuu

Interesting strategy. Like when MTV decided not to play music.

as though rallies of the faithful were an option

lol

that is a good point

bad news for Starmer's legions of admirers lol

even with the party being skint and short of legs on the ground I get a feeling there will such a supernatural effort to flood Batley & Spen with doorstep campaigners, from the tories as well, that the area might become (more) uninhabitable.

People have been saying "BJ doesn't want to be PM / will step down / will be forced out" for some time now.

There has never been any evidence for this from the disgusting BJ himself. He just goes on being PM, and seemingly, on the whole, strengthening his position.

It's true that it can be hard to sustain things long-term, and specifics like Scotland might count against him. But so far the "BJ won't last long" line looks like a tradition of wishful thinking.

It really is amusing, as poster Conrad says -- there are no faithful!

I will record here for posterity my formulation of new theories of KS, which I am considering the Ockham's Razor theory:

Why does KS do the strange things he does?

There is a mysterious idea that we often hear: roughly, "KS is a prisoner of the Labour Right".

But why would he be? They don't have anything on him. Even eg Mandelson has no mechanism to get special access to KS. We talk as if KS is powerless before these people.

So, as a couple of twitter commentators have been saying today: there's actually a simpler explanation: KS *is* the Labour Right. This is what he wants.

Does that square with KS's past? I'm not sure. Plainly it doesn't square with his leadership campaign.

It does remind me of some kind of fictional narrative -- maybe it was eg: an episode of LoD where corrupt "Dot Cottan" hit himself and was acclaimed for fighting a criminal. KS would be Dot. He benefits from the pretence that he's struggling with someone else, when really he's not struggling at all.

Or: THE USUAL SUSPECTS - where KS is Kevin Spacey (I'm afraid so!), who is viewed as a hapless pawn of others - but is really the criminal mastermind.

In short, maybe we should look at what KS does and think: this is simply what KS wants, rather than, as some of us have done, trying to work out a complicated reason why he has felt forced to do it.

Quite separately: I'm coming to think that William Davies had a point recently in observing how it is now very standard on the political Left to disdain "Remainers", when the majority of the people involved are / were themselves "Remainers".

I understand how, in a tortuous process, the discussion got here, and I realise that there is a distinction, if you like, between "Remain voter" and "Remainiac" ("Remainer" technically seems to cover both!).

But Davies' point is still sound -- many people who did not want to leave the EU now routinely talk as though that position was reactionary.

You can square the circle if you basically agree with Perry Anderson that the EU is bad.

In short, maybe we should look at what KS does and think: this is simply what KS wants, rather than, as some of us have done, trying to work out a complicated reason why he has felt forced to do it.

This goes so far but how far can we really go with "This is actually part of his plan"? Becoming a joke figure? Putting his current position at risk? I can buy the idea he (subconsciously at least) doesn't want to be PM, sure. But I don't see that he wants to risk his current position, or to do quite so badly

@AngelaRayner now addressing shadow cabinet: in Hartlepool, the people who had anti-immigrant sentiments went to the Tories. "We need to deal with that."

Hartlepool 97.9% white, 97.4% born in the UK, 95.6% born in England.

Like anyone would want to move to Hartlepool!

It's true that it can be hard to sustain things long-term, and specifics like Scotland might count against him. But so far the "BJ won't last long" line looks like a tradition of wishful thinking.

Also: Scotland is going to be more than a mere specific very shortly, it's going to be a Problem. To the extent the Tories give a fuck about the union – which I think they do, even if just for selfish reasons – they can't wear Boris. You'd be as well trying to win indyref with Thatcher.

"In short, maybe we should look at what KS does and think: this is simply what KS wants, rather than, as some of us have done, trying to work out a complicated reason why he has felt forced to do it."

Most of what I've seen is laughter at how it has come apart so quickly. The decisions have been so bad that anyone is looking at this as incompetence, nothing else.

Hartlepool couldn't be more demographically different than Batley & Spen, there was a much bigger UKIP/Brexit Party vote in the former. If Angela thinks pandering to racists is a winning strategy in other constituencies then they will maintain this losing run.

Hadn't looked at the final results.

FINAL LOCAL RESULTS:

Starmer has lost 326 seats (-7%), the worst local election results for a new opposition leader in over 40 years.

CON: 2,345 (+235)
LAB: 1,345 (-326)
LD: 586 (+7)
GRN: 151 (+88)

➡️ Corbyn lost 18 seats (-1%) in 2016

➡️ Starmer has lost 326 (-7) seats pic.twitter.com/Bdm03Ju6h5

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) May 9, 2021

lol even worse than IDS

the red faced man is turning up the racism

would love it if Kieth wrote some Jack Reacher style spy fiction novel like IDS did. Never got round to reading Tom Watson's political thriller The House.

This goes so far but how far can we really go with "This is actually part of his plan"? Becoming a joke figure? Putting his current position at risk?

Yes. This makes sense.

But: there is an increasingly pervasive view on the left that "the Labour Right doesn't care about winning power in the UK, only about crushing the Left and maintaining its own position".

I don't know whether that's true, but supposing it were true, it could make sense that KS cares more about attacking socialists than succeeding as Labour leader.

While some of his actions do look self-destructive, some - like appointing a more right-wing Shadow Chancellor / cabinet - might be examples of my theory of simply "take him at his word".

I would think for some of them their desire to maintain their own position at all costs facilitates the delusion that this is all a necessary, painful process which must be endured at all costs to secure an electable, sensible Labour party to one day rule over the rubble

I think the pinefox is correct - that Starmer does these things because they align with what he actually wants. However it seems pretty clear that he has no political or moral weathervane of his own. Right or left or anything else. He reminds me a lot of Laura Kuenssberg in this respect. People like to say she's a Tory, but her real tribe is insiderdom. Which skews Tory! So a whole lot of what Starmer does and says must be the consequence of conversations with advisors, people pushing him in certain directions, presenting him with a menu of options from which he chooses. What's harder to imagine is Starmer questioning the menu itself.

i think you're right except that i think with kuennsberg its that insiderishness is a tory trait that is there is a more conceptually tight correlation btweeen these things

like insiderishness is about a certain attachment to existing power and hierarchy

I think Kieth and his ilk do want power, they are just astonishingly shit at getting it, they have learned nothing since 1997 but they still think they are the smart set. Not even electoral disaster can shake their faith in the middle way

Starmer is understood to have been intensely frustrated that the row over the reshuffle meant that he could not visit places where Labour had exceeded expectations after a set of election results that were disappointing overall.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/10/starmer-moves-to-calm-labour-tensions-with-shadow-cabinet-address

Garbage Guardian narration. But a specific problem: KS hasn't made a public speech since Friday, but the paper quotes him verbatim talking internally to Labour staff.

I don't like these conventions - like unnamed sources who make up most of every politics news story now. People should come out and talk on the record or not be quoted at all.

But: there is an increasingly pervasive view on the left that "the Labour Right doesn't care about winning power in the UK, only about crushing the Left and maintaining its own position".

I don't know whether that's true, but supposing it were true, it could make sense that KS cares more about attacking socialists than succeeding as Labour leader.

I have a lot of sympathy with this perspective, I think its true - up to an extent. But it goes beyond that. If this were just the Corbyn years this would be a fuller explanation but this long predates the Corbyn years, it feels more ingrained than a reaction to a real or perceived internal threat

Prioritizing attacking socialists, regardless of whether there are even any socialists to attack. This suggests something much deeper, existential. The desire not to win power almost seems unconscious, internalised. Labour are in their rightful place, this is how it is supposed to be.

too many of the current lot joined the party in the 90's as slimeball career pols and saw New Labour as a project that would endure throughout their rise up the party ranks and into ministerial positions, until this unstoppable career trajectory was rudely interrupted by events in 2007-08. And they've not been right in the fucking head since!

like insiderishness is about a certain attachment to existing power and hierarchy

Exactly this

Fucking hell these sickos

‘Labour needs to be as ruthless as the Tories at listening, responding and changing. It must ditch the rigid dogmas of ideology, but instead reshape its traditional values of fairness, decency, and opportunity for today’s demands and for tomorrow’s world’https://t.co/CtO36yrWTl

— Anna Turley 💙 (@annaturley) May 10, 2021

Now we’re talking. Listening to the electorate and meeting the needs of the country is not unprincipled. “Revisionism” is precisely the way to serve the people. We will know Labour is taking the voters seriously when @annaturley is in the mix. And the voters will know it too. https://t.co/T1mtyppG2g

— David Miliband (@DMiliband) May 10, 2021

David have you cupped your ear and really listened to the electorate lately? If you listen really closely you can hear it... "We........ haaaaate....... yooooou"

Christ. You don't know where to begin with that.

Except to say -- they are commenting on Labour results, not amid the Corbyn era, but *after a year of KS, "under new leadership", and systematically purging socialists*.

Doesn't DM live in the US? Can't he give his sage advice to Bernie Sanders and AOC instead?

it also ignores that aside from some dubious claims about what Labour run councils have the power to do and some bland platitudes, there wasn't anything discernible on offer from Labour. As McD noted - the doorstep campaigners were sent out naked.

I've realised what D Miliband needs: a debate with AOC at a community centre in the Bronx. It must be only a couple of subway rides away for him!

legit lol tracer hand

Good to see Starmer works for some:

"Ryder has admitted to his failures as a father in the past; he was “just a kid having kids” back in the day, more interested in partying than parenthood. But now that he’s clean and settled with Joanne, whom he wed in 2010, he lovesbeing a hands-on dad. Thinking about his daughters’ future has even got him interested in politics for the first time: “This lot in charge are totally out of touch,” he says. “So I’m Labour, although I couldn’t vote for Corbyn – he’d have taken too much money off me!”"

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/10/shaun-ryder-i-was-a-heroin-addict-for-20-odd-years-but-theres-been-no-damage-off-that

he'll never vote

it's great when you're melt...yeah

^^^did i do this right

i'm still wondering how the fuck Shaun Ryder's got any money

ahahahaha off he fucks
https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/former-cambridgeshire-and-peterborough-mayor-james-palmer-qu-9198631/

I always knew Shaun Ryder was a Gaitskagite

EXC: Angela Rayner was urged to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership at the height of their row this weekend

Starmer was warned that Rayner had the backing to beat him in a contest, her allies say https://t.co/eaCNjNrZkp

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 10, 2021

he's not quite as sexy to the wider PLP as he is to Jenny Chapman when he's in bed with her!

his authority in the party has almost completely gone. I can't bear to see him limping on in so much pain ;P Latest Redfield Wilton records the lowest approval rating yet and Labour 11 pts behind. But unfortunately these things can take longer and there isn't anything good to follow his demise.

The new shadow chancellor with her friends at the Spectator garden party pic.twitter.com/06uMBhM8Ap

— Mr Demos of Pnyx (@gem_ste) May 10, 2021

EXC: Angela Rayner was urged to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership at the height of their row this weekend

In "Batley & Spen", is Spen for the name of the river?

It's an abbreviation of Spenborough

Getting some serious Roy of the Rovers/Michael Hardcastle energy from 'Spenborough'

have wasted many an hour or two cycling around the Spenborough running track on a tandem with the kid. Classic YOLO!

Shippers still MIA and apparently the infamous tweet has caught the attention of those C***o Crap House wankers.

Looking at 2019 election Labour took a 13% drop from 2017, but Tories lost ground too.

The big winner being the Heavy Woollen Independents. Are they NazBols?

just plain and simple str8 up Nazis

their Chairman is ex-UKIP. Probably one of them that jumped ship because Farage was too much of a moderate I think.

the Northern Independence Party would kill for those numbers though!

Those numbers are what made me wonder if they were NazBol rather than straight up Naz

Paul Halloran was going for the inflammatory grooming gangs/terrorism angle, then said in his own defence no I can't be racist because my mam once took in a homeless Jamaican kid!

Yes, I thought it was an abbreviation of Spenborough, and even that the constituency was really called Batley & Spenborough but everyone was just oddly agreeing to abbreviate it. A bit like if everyone was saying 'Notts' or 'Northants' out loud.

But it's then odd that its *official* name is Batley & Spen, with no reference to Spenborough.

Google Maps does feature a SPEN, next to the River Spen.

There was a Spen Valley constituency until 1950.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spen_Valley_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

And a Spenborough local government district till 1974:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spenborough

Spenborough was created as an urban district in 1915 by the merger of Cleckheaton, Gomersal and Liversedge urban districts.[1] The amalgamation was carried out on the instigation of Cleckheaton Urban District Council, in order to resist plans by the County Borough of Bradford to annex the area. The name "Spenborough", after the River Spen, was also suggested by Cleckheaton UDC

That tends to suggest that the name Spenborough was created in c.1915.

Bradford going power mad for more lebensraum, someone need to take a stand against them!

Labour are going to parachute in the Hartlepool guy again, spend the whole campaign talking about grooming gangs to try and 'win back' hardcore racists, then lose their deposit

the Spen isn't much of river really, it's a tributary of the Calder and unless there are flood conditions it's more like a big stream I think.

"Labour are going to parachute in the Hartlepool guy again"

If you can't win seriously at least lose with good humour

I some a couple of Paula Sherriff rumours on twitter, not one of the worst melts but sending a remain ultra to a 60% Leave constituency wouldn't work imo

pic.twitter.com/xPCPsmPrFj

— Andrew R (@ExcelPope) May 11, 2021

lol! from the Kieth really is 6'2 ..honestly... serious of photos with his maverick cop partner.

There have been lots of average quality memes about those photos but that one is genuinely excellent.

It brings so much together -- the odd extensiveness of that photoshoot, their carefully selected outfits (with AR's terrific coat), the weird over-dramatised quality of it, the height deception issue that Calzino has pointed out, the cop partners image, the strange fact that one of these two just tried to fire the other, the names (highlighting the fact that most people not near the area have never thought about Batley or Spen), the ITV factor.

Class has nothing to do with:
-your accent
-where you live
-where you grew up
-what your parents do
-where you went to school

These things remain important in supporting certain individuals to change their class position, but they don’t come into the definition of class.

— Grace Blakeley (@graceblakeley) May 11, 2021

this is a very bad pseud gone on a class trolling mission response to that middle income plus homeowning bigots with regional accents identifying as w/c thing. If you grew up in a poor area in social housing, and went to a sink comprehensive, with parents in low income jobs then your not w/c cos class is thotial constwuct. Yeah just about every formative experience that moulds your perception of yourself from the day you are born, just erase all of that says person who attended a private school and grew up in Hampshire.

EXCL: Carolyn Harris, Keir Starmer's parliamentary private secretary, has resigned amid claims she spread baseless rumours about Angela Rayner's private life

With @patrickkmaguire and @EleniCourea https://t.co/5uww6rzzbz

— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) May 11, 2021

I must admit I find Blakeley's position, about 'production' etc, hard to understand. Probably my own intellectual deficiency.

she'd probably need to write a very long Perry Anderson length piece on her class theory to wring out all the nuance. Because in the twitter thread format she just sounds like an infuriatingly wrong posh 'un and she's going to get shellacked for it!

Half of the most prominent left-wing ppl in the media just want ppl to have nice things, as a treat.

No doubt class in a Marxian sense is different to class in a UK-ish self identification sense, in the same way that a huge number of the self-perceived middle class are basically proletarian

Not sure Grace is the one to pick at these threads tho, just reminds me of being told I couldn't be working class cos I was at uni

Grace has been tweeting a lot of shit the last few days. It's a grift for attention and more work.

GB is daft alright but I can’t bring myself to dislike her because 1) her detractors include some of the most deranged people on twitter and 2) she’s very pretty

gyac please

summer is truly a-comin'

Another measure will repeal the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, allowing the prime minister to call an election when he chooses.

Yay fewer elections...

this is a very bad pseud gone on a class trolling mission response to that middle income plus homeowning bigots with regional accents identifying as w/c thing.

I don't know how much mileage there really is in challenging definitions of what working class is. The fact that the label has become untethered from the labelled (if it were every properly afixed) isn't something easily undone. Using words to mean something that other people perceive to mean something entirely different seems a losing proposition

The terms gone

I reckon Novara Media could do a lot worse than bringing in Moyesy to get this lot sorted

Electoral Integrity Bill, Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, Judicial Review Bill, Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill to ensure the integrity of elections

_Another measure will repeal the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, allowing the prime minister to call an election when he chooses._

Yay fewer elections...

That's right

But beyond that the Queen's Speech showed a big contrast between the Government's impressively clear political strategy (again evidenced today with bills on elections nature/timing + culture war nudges) and far less clear governing agenda

— Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) May 11, 2021

Your daily reminder that the grown ups are back in charge. https://t.co/Fmd8XVhm5H

— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 11, 2021

good grief!

lol, clarification forthcoming from kieth that angela rayner does not, in fact, suck of tramps 4 cigs

with the caveat that she will in fact do it for a bottle of blue wkd though!

IDST

Take the morning off Twitter and posh people try and talk about class again pic.twitter.com/EIF71hizkB

— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) May 11, 2021

I can't see past Grace either lacking way too much self-awareness or just conducting some lazer guided trolling to up her profile, neither is very good.

The latter goes with the territory when it comes to Twitter surely?

I haven't moaned about Twitter in ages so I'm due a go, but slightly disheartened to see this latest Thread About UK Politics so quickly become a new Thread About Tweets About UK Politics.

More TikToks about UK Politics please.

you've got to go looking for the discourse somewhere, it won't come wafting through your kitchen window like smog!

Agreed with Tom, every time this thread gets updated I get excited that Keith's tripped over himself again to some comedic effect so this new line of discussion is disappointing :(

https://t.co/7kLL6p7t1R pic.twitter.com/l5Ftp7MOtH

— Mr Demos of Pnyx (@gem_ste) May 11, 2021

🤡🤡🤡

abolish work and class imho

— Dave (@MediocreDave) May 11, 2021

I haven't moaned about Twitter in ages so I'm due a go, but slightly disheartened to see this latest Thread About UK Politics so quickly become a new Thread About Tweets About UK Politics.

― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Tuesday, 11 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

That's right

Tom you know I love you but your dn is a twitter reference, come off it

please sadiq https://t.co/PmTYvtGAvW pic.twitter.com/2nxOQA5Rrs

— bick #TeamJess&Wes (@bicknaker) May 11, 2021

FWIW it strikes me that Blakeley's statement is hoist by a very old familiar petard, namely the relations between correlation & causality.

"Education deserves your class position" -- might be untrue.

"Class position determines your education" -- appears quite true.

"There is correlation between education and class position" -- appears true.

I think that she has used "nothing to do with" to indicate a denial of the first statement, but not noticed that it also logically denies the second and third statements, which appear true.

In short, looser talk than I might expect, but maybe that reflects her education.

have to admit i just love grace blakeley so will prob agree with anything she says.

I feel all the ire she has got boils down to a private school educated Oxford alumni from a very priviliged background not really being a good enough writer to condense her class discourse thinking to twitter sized chunks that doesn't boil the piss of lots of people who grew up in poor versions of most of the things she bullets points, especially the housing and education and reduced odds of progressing to higher education with parents that never had a higher education etc. All the formative stuff that made some of us into complete fuckups. Never mind some of us council estate scratters that think Bourdieu is a variety of red wine and cultural capital is a loan company!

Anyway I'm always looking for an excuse to slag off Novara Media. This "cultural working class" thing is problematic, but you need a better writer than Grace to do a critique of it any justice, she just ends up sounding like another variant of the middle-income plus property earning working classes - which I'm sure wasn't her intention.

She's right about the accent thing, but that's hardly a startling insight.

People do need to transcend class and social mobility is in such a rapid decline that 20th century definitions are not particularly helpful or enlightening anymore. But still...

i saw her do a Q&A when her book stolen was being published. could be the questions and the fact the chair was her apparent mate ash sarkar but she seemed to be good at circling round the points she wanted to make, but it was all a bit baggy and not pointed enough. tried reading the book (should prob give it another go to be fair) but felt it had the same sort of issue.

seems to be a tendency on the UK left to downplay the specificities of people's experience in the name of some ideal working class coalition (actually cross-class but never mind). you can define precarious or downwardly mobile middle class people (a significant chunk of the corbyn coalition) as working class if you want but they don't have all the same interests & struggles as people who were raised poor despite some overlap, it seems dishonest to pretend otherwise & any necessary solidarity shouldn't be conditional on doing so

Under her "relation to the the means of production" definition wouldn't that put people who are fairly comfortable in the same category as people depending on foodbanks? A big element of class solidarity is about knowing other people are experiencing/have experienced the same struggles and hardship etc

If Marina Hyde was reduced to working at a call centre she'd be common as muck!

I say this as a bourgeois benefit bludging layabout who hasn't worked in nearly 10 years. I think even Marx would have said I was a wanker!

Like whaaaaaaat?

Peter Mandelson: “I’m afraid Keir Starmer has come badly unstuck”.

Damning interview by @Anoosh_C with Starmer's supposed ally. https://t.co/eKW4d7Ja2J

— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) May 11, 2021

There’s no point in getting rid of the incubus of Jeremy Corbyn and continuing to uphold his policies and manifesto on which we went down to such a terrible defeat in 2019.”

Yet Mandelson told me he hadn’t spoken with Starmer since 2018, when they talked “briefly about Brexit”. “I wish I had given more,” he responded, when asked about his relationship with the leader’s office. “All I can do is write articles and give interviews. What else can I do?”

Keir Starmer’s leadership ratings now worse than Jeremy Corbyn’s, polls show https://t.co/Hoh5FiuGOS

— Jon Stone (@joncstone) May 11, 2021

It's probably already in motion. He turned up in Hartlepool dressed like a defrocked vicar, but I think he was mainly hanging out with Dr Paul.

Denying he's talked to him is his Roman thumbs up!

Under her "relation to the the means of production" definition wouldn't that put people who are fairly comfortable in the same category as people depending on foodbanks?

This is the standard trad Marxist line. "You have more in common with the homeless man on your street than the man who owns your company," etc.

So cases have been going up for 2/3 days by a few hundred...I hope it's a blip...

Faiza Shaheen is not very impressed with Blakely's class oppression erasure and has gone in hard on her!

sorry Tom. I'm becoming a sick addict when it comes to getting my fix of mainly inconsequential "what people say on twitter" occurrences.

you have to wonder exactly how long it will be before the Right mounts a challenge.

his authority has drained away as fast as May's did after losing the majority but it takes longer to ditch a dud leader when you are in govt. Starmer won't hobble on for as long as she did.

Since appreciating people for their good looks seems to be back in fashion itt then Faiza Shaheen >>>>>> Grace Blakeley.

Idk if there will be a challenge from the right, partly due to a lack of obvious options, partly because they must surely still fear whatever remaining left wing there is in the membership will be able to rally against them. Would Nandy suit them any better? Beyond her, who do you have? Reeves? Jarvis?

I’d guess they know they have Starmer in their pocket and figure that an economic implosion is still Labour’s best chance of returning to power, rather than anything the leadership is actually going to do positively. Sit tight and hope to win by default.

Animated lads getting hot under the collar itt

They've had no trouble scraping the barrel in recent years, yeah it might not have yielded much success but that doesn't put them off! and what remains of the membership can't be relied on or might not be big enough these days. I wouldn't confidently predict if by a miracle some decent candidate got enough nominations to run, that would actually beat Reeves or some other waste of space.

If a decent candidate got enough nominations Labour would be in the position of trying to stop any rampant entryism but also desperately needing new members to stave off insolvency!

Nashwan: yes, this thread lately has been reminding me of old times on ILM. (Though to me 2003 feels somewhat recent and I always think of Mark S, in 2001, as a slightly new arrival.)

Louise Wener - classic or CLASSIC?

the next Labour leader betting odds is as arbitrary as it ever was: Zara Sultana just below Yvette Cooper in the betting, probably only one of the 7 below Burnham has any realistic chance.

xp

I hope you aren't suggesting that is an alt of mine, Pinefox. I was barely even online in 2003 and had never heard of ilx and didn't even open an account till about 2010!

and I can't abide indie rock.

lol just scrolled that entire thread and took in the essence of unfiltered old ilm

Animated lads getting hot under the collar itt

You started it!

gender-neutral lad

is this a usage that we can get behind?

im not sure

ffs

as in "lads" has been avowedly gender neutral in some~ cultures on these islands forever as noted many times on this site

tsk jim

Also i thought anvil was just referencing toms dname tbh

Idk if there will be a challenge from the right, partly due to a lack of obvious options, partly because they must surely still fear whatever remaining left wing there is in the membership will be able to rally against them. Would Nandy suit them any better? Beyond her, who do you have? Reeves? Jarvis?

I’d guess they know they have Starmer in their pocket and figure that an economic implosion is still Labour’s best chance of returning to power, rather than anything the leadership is actually going to do positively. Sit tight and hope to win by default.

All of the above depends largely on their perception/assessment of things, and on that front who knows? The levels of delusion and self-deception aren't getting any easier to quantify. There also seems to be some level of comfort in doing badly (as it shows "we still need to work on ourselves", which is a position they don't seem invested in departing from

I don't really see how they can hope to win either of the next two general elections. Think things shift after that maybe as boomers filter out of the system, but if the median age increases (and percentage of working age voters declines) in a majority of seats, thats a deeper structural issue Labour are going to need to have serious answers for, for any elections after that

Jess Phillips has been uncharacteristically quiet of late

The inspirational and highly principled Zara Sultana is as short 20/1 to be next Labour leader. I'd put her true odds as at least triple figures, sadly.

probably 2/1 to lose her seat tho :(

There is a story in Private Eye that Johnson had a ccj issued to 10 Downing Street last October for an unpaid debt and it still hasn't been paid. If I lived there I wouldn't sweat it too much about debt collectors either.

We must be days away from another rare Blair intervention surely.

there was a diabolical New Labour reunion on GMB this morning as well. Adonis would have had his silk wanking gloves at the ready

Calzino: No, I find it a mild coincidence that your ILX name is a bit like that odd person's (who was really called Calum and had devolved into Calzer by that point?), but I don't think you have much in common with him.

phew!

When did Tony Blair morph into David Icke?

That "lads" has had particular valence in Ireland is true, but whether it was a gender-neutral term, say a hundred years ago, I am more doubtful -- don't think I recall ever reading any evidence for that.

Flann O'Brien would be a good example: I don't think he ever includes women in "lads" (but then, TBH, I don't recall him using the word "lads" very much itself much either). Actually you could do some kind of search of eg the whole works of Joyce, Yeats, Synge, O'Casey and I think you'd find the same thing. So was real speech different? Unsure.

New Statesman headlines.

Why I will never forgive Boris Johnson for the damage he has done to the country I love
BY MARTIN FLETCHER

Peter Mandelson: “I’m afraid Keir Starmer has come badly unstuck”
BY ANOOSH CHAKELIAN

Why is the world’s best vaccinated country experiencing a Covid spike?
BY HARRY CLARKE-EZZIDIO

Is it time to end our Mitford obsession?
BY NEW STATESMAN

Who listens to Rag’n’Bone Man?
BY KATE MOSSMAN

My lockdown nostalgia
BY SOPHIE MCBAIN

The sex recession: How our love lives are stunted by hyper-sexualisation
BY LOUISE PERRY

Rachel Cusk and the art of the midlife crisis
BY JOHANNA THOMAS-CORR

Do Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner realise how much they need each other?
BY STEPHEN BUSH

As Tony Blair warns that Labour could die under Starmer, is he planning a return?
By Harry Lambert

Reading is bad for your health

Slough is even worse.

This deeply unpleasant comment also reveals quite a lot about how Mandelson views the relationship between Corbyn and the party. An incubus is specifically a male demon who visits women in their beds, copulating & giving them sinful & erotic dreams. It's an image of violation. https://t.co/MlWdSpBGN5

— James B (@piercepenniless) May 12, 2021

As an Irish woman who was amused to be described as part of nashwan’s collective “animated lads”, I have to say I don’t care if people were using colloquially it a century ago to refer to women as well as men, my point about being included as a lad in that context was really the only point I wanted to make lol

Confirmed. Boris Johnson has a county court judgement against him for an unpaid debt of £535, from October last year. He still hasn't paid it. pic.twitter.com/mHmSIyFwTU

— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) May 12, 2021

Does this unpaid bill thing help our hurt him though

help OR hurt

Sounds like a load of faff made up by some jobsworth. Good job Bozza!

well the Downing Street redecoration scandal brought down his government iirc so this should hurt him a lot

he so badly wants to be Winston Churchill and he was also an overgrown rich brat and a spendthrift and a gambler, often with unpaid debts etc...

Useful graphs relating class to material wealth

Whilst we're back on the "Labour has lost the working classes" debate - a reminder that Lab is still the most popular party with people on low incomes *of working age*. The "working age" bit is crucial.

Here's the GE2019 vote by household income including retired people. 1/ pic.twitter.com/FDT8RagRw7

— Christabel Cooper (@ChristabelCoops) May 11, 2021

Gyac: yes, I was just taking an interest in this particular statement:

"lads" has been avowedly gender neutral in some~ cultures on these islands forever

and wondering how long 'forever' was.

"The supposed ‘culture war’ conceals an economic pincer movement: outside the overheated south-east and urban centres, Tory increases to the minimum wage and temporary uplifts to universal credit have been tangible, and come in the context of longer-term cuts to services, often administered by long-established Labour councils – themselves no strangers to venality. It’s no good for Labour to complain that voters do not understand that many of these councils have been destroyed by enormous cuts from central government, when the party has long abandoned any attempt to give a clear picture of how the state works. It is unjust that Labour local administrations have been tarnished by the austerity years while a Tory government in Westminster volubly splashing a little cash a decade later is reaping its rewards, but politics is often unfair. Corbynism and Brexit may both have accelerated the process of decomposition and realignment already underway in the party, but it is economics that will cement these blocs. Focus groups and listening exercises are expensive ways for Labour not to think about this fact."

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2021/may/beyond-hartlepool

xp forever is a mighty long time.

Blair backing transphobes and islamophobes whilst deriding the "woke" left demonstrating he is still as anti-black as he was when he was Labour leader. https://t.co/MH9gEeHhvs

— Simon Vessey (@Simon_Vessey) May 12, 2021

As an Irish woman who was amused to be described as part of nashwan’s collective “animated lads”

Frankly I probably deserve a chiding just for trying to play on Tom D's display name so feebly

I know a few people who support BLM and trans rights, in an airy fairy liberal way, but also express admiration for Blair due to remainiacs brainworms. Wonder how they'll react to this.

Does this unpaid bill thing help or hurt him though

big CON +4 vibes all over it imo

Gyac: yes, I was just taking an interest in this particular statement:

"lads" has been avowedly gender neutral in some~ cultures on these islands forever
and wondering how long 'forever' was.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 10:46 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Mea maxima culpa, the forever was carelessly deployed and "these islands" related to literally the three you can hit with a stone without leaving my parish

These Blair statements are actually more dire than I would have guessed.

He wants to pretend that when socialists went out knocking on doors for JC, they put people off by bringing up J.K. Rowling and Trevor Phillips.

Most voters don't care about those people.

I like Darraghmac's image of the islands and have been trying to remember what county he lives in. Laois?

_As an Irish woman who was amused to be described as part of nashwan’s collective “animated lads”_

Frankly I probably deserve a chiding just for trying to play on Tom D's display name so feebly

How tf does the pinefox know about Laois

the pf is in his own way a phúca imo

im of the western isles, pf, go raibh maith agat

famously coastal county, Laois

Who listens to Rag’n’Bone Man?
BY KATE MOSSMAN

Dont put your blame on them

Ol' Tonty Blairs is the real rag and bone man.

famously coastal county, Laois

Was going to say islands are surely one of the last things you'd expect to see in Laois.

Mandelson seems to be heavily hinting at the idea that Labour should, in effect, disaffiliate from the unions and move away from being a mass membership party. Seems bold in a context where they can’t seem to find any major donors elsewhere.

Tom D, I agree, not large coastal islands, but I was hypothesising about inland lake isles, of which one or two have been reported, in Ireland. However, a search suggests that Laois doesn't even have those.

-- The Pookafox

Well, this is political news:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/12/jo-cox-sister-labour-batley-spen-byelection-kim-leadbeater

she's thick as a plank and has made some utterly ridiculous statements conflating "left extremists" with the murder of her sister on look north. No thanks!

not that it would be a barrier to being a Labour MP tbf

Labour is too inwardly focused here's my 1000 word blah blah woke left blah Union barons selection processes blah doorstep technology AI change waffle waffle waffle.

Not a single actionable idea contained within any of these pieces, it's almost enough to make you feel sorry for Starmer having these guys in his ear constantly.

if he wasn't already finished, he could maybe go back to those 10 pledges

Think things shift after that maybe as boomers filter out of the system, but if the median age increases (and percentage of working age voters declines) in a majority of seats, thats a deeper structural issue Labour are going to need to have serious answers for, for any elections after that

Don't think demographic changes are going to make that much difference, as the Boomers die off you have a whole generation underneath them that is poised to inherit way way more than previous generations ever did. That's going to change the game again. It's also the major reason why May's electoral campaign was such a catastrophe, because it threatened to wreck that massive, one-off transfer of wealth.

Admittedly that might be counterbalanced by a growing younger and increasingly pissed off group who will have to wait longer to either buy or inherit.

Its a good decade out so difficult to predict.

I can't really tell just how many generations are going to be stacking up in the inheritance queue! Or what happens when pensioners and boomers are not longer the same thing

I think the demographic change is in the fact that the number of seats where working age people as percentage of voters is increasing, is fewer than the number of seats where its decreasing

Once you start banking on demographic changes to help you out you're in trouble, that's a watched kettle right there.

From the council election results it's clear the composition of seats are changing given there are gains for Lab in parts of the SE but this is more of a rearrangement as the Tories are gaining up North. And actually that gain has paid dividends for Tories more than Lab.

The stuff that can arrest that decline is Lab trying to deliver for constituents as seen in Preston and Salford. Unfortunately it's all very local as Lab nationally are merely positioning themselves as caretakers when the Tories next fuck-up.

Xpost

Problem with waiting for old tories to die is they just get replaced by younger lab/libs turned tory.

Labour is too inwardly focused here's my 1000 word blah blah woke left blah Union barons selection processes blah doorstep technology AI change waffle waffle waffle.

Not a single actionable idea contained within any of these pieces, it's almost enough to make you feel sorry for Starmer having these guys in his ear constantly.

Problem with waiting for old tories to die is they just get replaced by younger lab/libs turned tory.

Very much so! This has always been the case in fact. The question is whether there's anything unique regarding the ride that boomers had, that filtered into political calculations, or not. Are over 60s more important than they were electorally 15/20 years ago?

Once you start banking on demographic changes to help you out you're in trouble, that's a watched kettle right there.

Especially when those demographic changes point to Labour voters concentrating in fewer and fewer seats as the age profile increases in the rest, to the advantage of the Tories

Are over 60s more important than they were electorally 15/20 years ago?

There's more of them?

The flipside of this is that if the levelling up agenda actually works (gigantic if) then the increased investment will change the demographics of a lot of these seats almost by necessity and that won't necessarily benefit the Tories in the long run. There are signs that's already happening in the South of England as people move out of London.

There's more of them?

Yes I think thats largely true (and in some seats drastically so) - which I think makes at least the next two elections a lock for the Conservatives. The question is what happens after that, particularly if that demographic change continues to solidify.

If Labour lost these (now important) voters of 2020 back in the 90s and 00s, then the voters of 2036 and 2040 could be being won and lost today in the same way

Corbyn is sick of Starmer’s shit.

"I think it's a bit rich to start blaming me for stuff that's been done over the past year that I've had absolutely no part of whatsoever," said Mr Corbyn.

"I do think that dumping on somebody because they're not there anymore is a bit weak.

"Do I take responsibility for it? No."

KING

I was waiting for this to happen and he needed to start kicking back against the Long Corbyn slurs, even though nobody really believes it.

when magic grandpa calls you weak it’s time to hang up the spurs, pardner

innit!

If u bring spurs into it matt will be off again

Starmzy and Corbyn famously both Arsenal fans ofc

I've never believed Starmer is really an Arsenal fan. Whereas I wouldn't be surprised if Jez could name the entire squad on the day they won their first league title under Herbert Chapman.

tbh I don't even see Starmer as a sentient being, he's some kind of mollusc

Not convinced Corbz is really an Arsenal fan either but Arsenal fans are a pretty unconvincing lot in general.

This article, from before he was elected, mentions the season ticket.

I could imagine Corbz being as geeky with football club history as he is with his cast iron manhole cover collection

One of his sons is a youth coach (Watford?) but i think he himself is strictly casual.

He did once join forces with Hector Bellerin to deliver a devastating snub to P*ers M*rgan so there's that

I too hate Purs Menguin

Tony Blair claims 1935, 1983 and 2019 the worst defeats Labour has ever had, and all the fault of the far left. 1935 was easily the highest vote share of the interwar period, and better than 2005. Again in terms of vote share, 2019 was not the worst. He didn't mention 2017. https://t.co/azj0sKQ35k

— David Edgerton (@DEHEdgerton) May 12, 2021

prof D schooling the wicked liars on Labour history again

MoreLikeTonyBliarAmIRight?

Not convinced Corbz is really an Arsenal fan either but Arsenal fans are a pretty unconvincing lot in general.

― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Arsenal fans are the most alienated, i.e. the most Marxist. It's ok if you all can't see it.

lots of the melts say vote share doesn't matter in a FPTP system actshully, well it might not in single elections but if you can build on solid defeats rather than alienating vast swathes of your previous voters that could be a winning formula in the end.

"But I think there's the feeling that Labour had done too much agreeing with the government when many people's experience of Covid is one of fear. We ended up being seen as a party that basically agreed with the whole government strategy."

Imagine what we could've done with this level of clarity when the government was fucking it up. Such a shame Corbyn had to apologise for the EU to pricks in the last couple of years of his leadership.

The only route to peace of mind and avoiding murderous rage is to avoid as much as you can of everything these monsters say ime

Love her.

When Tony Blair rails against the “woke left” in his @NewStatesman article, he means young people.

Our generation won't put up with injustice. We demand deep, fundamental change - for the working class in all our diversity.

Whether he likes it or not, we're the future.

— Nadia Whittome MP (@NadiaWhittomeMP) May 12, 2021

All this and we haven’t even mentioned Wings packing it in

Nadia another one of the handful of stars I feel increasing admiration/sadness for, for persevering in their scum party

All of the details about this that I’ve read are endlessly depressing.

Mike Hill tribunal: Blackburn MP, Kate Hollern, has resigned from her position on Sir Keir Starmer's front bench.

It follows claims she tried to "isolate" a parliamentary worker who claimed former Hartlepool MP Mike Hill sexually harrassed her. https://t.co/7JiMZTQf9h

— ITV News Tyne Tees (@itvtynetees) May 12, 2021

All this and we haven’t even mentioned Wings packing it in

― Scamp Granada (gyac), Wednesday, May 12, 2021 1:21 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

hard to believe he's going to bother his arse getting a job. would not be surprised if he was back soon with a fundraiser

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1Mz64SWQAEob66?format=jpg&name=900x900

check out the 2021 big thought leaders of the UK meltocracy endorsing the Dunty book, I'd top myself after 5 minutes if I was stuck in a broken lift with them.

I find it quite amusing that in the lexicon of modern shitposting that even if Big Dunty had hair he'd be derided as "spiritually bald"

hah hah I missed the most important bit of that screengrab. Dunty's publisher liked the post at the bottom.

My university fired a Holocaust denier on staff and then amongst other things hosted an important, inclusive event to signal solidarity with Jewish members of our community. I'm proud of that. Apparently the Universities Minister thinks we should have kept the guy on? Get fucked.

— dr matt lodder (@mattlodder) May 12, 2021

Michele Donelan says holocaust deniers are fine "as long as they aren't racist"

just wanna register my bogglement at alistair campbell on breakfast tv interviewing his old boss that he did war crimes with

our country continues to reach previously undreamed-of levels of normalness day after day

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1QjaFWXoAAVd0C?format=png&name=large

Interesting new research indicates that the Greens could be a leadership change away from becoming a proper third party. (Although it would blatantly frame him as the Chuka of the left, If I were Clive Lewis I think I would jump ship)

49% of respondents say that the Con party, which has been in power for 11 years, represents change for the better.

What a moment for right wing comedy

"Without AstraZenneca, I wouldn't have had two jabs… thank God for pharmaceutical companies", says comedian Matt Forde

Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti would rather listen to Biden and the Pope over vaccines "not just side with big pharma"#politicslive https://t.co/HVhtO8fxV7 pic.twitter.com/sOwc6kegk2

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) May 13, 2021

Anti-deportation protest on Kenmure Street in Pollokshields. Immigration van is ringed by police and protesters. “These are our neighbours. Let them go.” pic.twitter.com/0xYhXw1XxX

— Catriona Stewart (@LadyCatHT) May 13, 2021

I used to live there!

xxp

I dunno, inviting only two right wing "comedians" to comment a politics show might not be quite overkill yet

49% of respondents say that the Con party, which has been in power for 11 years, represents change for the better.

― the pinefox,

This is unfair. They've been constrained by the EU for 10 of those 11 years. A corrupt and restrictive status quo Labour would have us subordinate ourselves too again, given half a chance. They've worked tirelessly to free us from those shackles, but the job is only just beginning. It may not all be plain sailing, but for the first time in living memory, there is hope on the horizon

Hmmm

The letter from the Prime Minister to the Ballymurphy families. Their verdict: not worth the paper it’s written on. @bbcnewsline @bbcnewsni pic.twitter.com/qILvLmhuFK

— Catherine Morrison (@CackyMo) May 13, 2021

No surrender, eh Boris?

what is it about Shami Chakrabarti that draws so much hatred from right-wing comedians and Andrew Marr?

This week, the bereaved families of Ballymurphy were vindicated after their 50-year struggle for justice.

Today in Parliament, I extended my condolences and asked the Government if there will ever be prosecutions for the unjustified killings #BallymurphyMassacre pic.twitter.com/BGDC4wQont

— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) May 13, 2021

a non-white woman with a forrin name daring to comment on our political system does tend to bring all of the cunts out of the woodwork

Also, this is great news (re covid spike in the north west):

Looks a bit like the Blackburn Director of Public Health, who is brilliant, has just said "we're doing this" and allowing govt to catch up https://t.co/62XSJfMGNm More power to his elbow.

— Paul Cotterill (@Bickerrecord) May 13, 2021

In the latest weekly figures, the town recorded the third highest infection rate in England, with an 89% jump in cases compared to the previous week.
As with other areas, mass testing is due to be deployed in hotspots, and there are early indications health teams will be stepping up the vaccination rollout.

However, it's worth noting that although the new variant is thought to spread as easily as previous ones, there's no evidence to suggest it causes more serious illness.

Hospital admissions do not seem to have increased in line with cases, and the area hasn't seen a death with coronavirus for the past six weeks.

David Cameron says a new body to help ex-PM's navigate life post No 10 could be helpful - esp. for a "younger one" who doesn't just want to sit on the board of a bank and make the occasional speech, but, instead, "wants to get stuck in" and "help a business expand".

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) May 13, 2021

pig joke

(As requested) Got to bring home the bacon somehow.

The 2 men are now being released. @itvnews pic.twitter.com/uj0k1FuWO5

— Peter A Smith (@PeterAdamSmith) May 13, 2021

I note that every single critical tweet on that thread is from a Rangers fan. Good luck on Saturday, Glasgow.

The solidarity has been incredible to see, God bless the people of Glasgow

Some of them.

She specified "people"

😃

NEW:

Former MP, George Galloway, is going to stand in the Batley and Spen By-election for the Workers Party of Great Britain.

— British Electoral Politics (@electpoliticsuk) May 13, 2021

die you old cunt

^

I like ms Chakrabarti a lot.

Yes, the people who attack her in public are disgusting.

So has George put his All For Unity party - which he co-founded with a Old Etonian ex-soldier and a founder of UKIP - in mothballs or is this a new party he's dreamed up?

the ppl of batley & spen decisively reject GG as they vote to be part of an independent scotland

this Batley & Spen byelection line-up is going to be like hitler, hitler, clown , hitler...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/13/cruel-paranoid-failing-priti-patel-inside-the-home-office

^ pretty good -- though harrowing at points -- read on the Home Office, with much of it on New Lab home secretaries as designers of the nightmare we are living in.

Public actions such as today's in Glasgow are one of the few forms of opposition to Patel.

Thinking about everything that built today's victory in Glasgow: decades of anti-raids and migrant solidarity organising, local communication networks, mass dissemination of anti-cop and anti-border rhetoric, community-building and sheer neighbourliness.

— HJ Giles (@HarryJosieGiles) May 13, 2021

Howard Becket (I dunno, NEC/Unite person apparently) misjudging things very badly on Twitter today by calling for Priti Patel to be deported, he has just deleted the tweet but too late.

Fucking idiot

How have you actually managed to get people to have to defend Priti Patel. I’m so mad why would you put me in this position ffs

— Marxcelo Bielsa (@judeinlondon2) May 13, 2021

My thoughts exactly! Appalling tweet, this is going to deservedly fuck him. Horrendous sentiment, what a cunt

if she could be deported to another planet I wouldn't object

well sure
broke: deporting tories of Indian descent to India
woke: deporting entire cabinet to rockall
bespoke: "deporting" entire conservative party in rocket to the sun

I sometimes ponder the way she consistently does that awkward pinched smile might suggest she has some deep rooted self-image problems that almost make her human, but then I think wtf am I doing here - she's a fucking evil sociopath with so much blood on her hands, who cares. but that NEC guy really doesn't get it.

I'm pretty sure that "awkward pinched smile" is her trying very hard not to look smug. She got into trouble once for looking smug when she was giving out some terrible news or answering some especially awkward question and I would guess she's been extensively coached since.

Totally good to deport Patel.

come on it isn't, deporting shouldn't be brandished as a threat to anyone, however despicable, especially if it just happens that they aren't white, once you let this far-right shit into your discourse it's not going away.

Objectively speaking it's a bad look for a politician to say but fuck that monster

she should be in jail, but in a UK jail, not an Indian one.

Lol Beckett is now retweeting old tweets to show his anti-racism

I had a strange experience, with 6music on at 9:30. The news was on, it reached an item about the events in Glasgow. It started playing an item where a local person, I think, said: "We reject Priti Patel's racist policies" ...

And it seemed to fade out, and back into music - reggae, naturally, as it was Gideon Coe.

I was unsettled. On these news programmes usually it ends and someone very blandly says: "And, that's the 6music news, at 9:30", and a couple of jingles later it goes back to the music.

Here, I genuinely had a sense that a clip (of the person talking) had got through to live radio that wasn't supposed to, and someone monitoring had suddenly pulled the plug to prevent a BBC vs government incident.

But this might all be an exaggerated projection from a small botch in live editing.

"But this might all be an exaggerated projection from a small botch in live editing."

The only bbc music station I listen to is R3 these days, but I listen to enough other bbc radio to doubt very much that was a botch and your first instinct was probs correct.

100% for total tory elimination but using the threat of state violence against one specifically for not being white is beyond fucked up

but also this whole mystery as to how a racialised politician could support racism they personally benefit from eludes me tbh

very normal party

Howard Beckett suspended from the Labour Party. Labour source: “Keir is prising McCluskey’s cold, dead hand from the Labour Party.”

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 13, 2021

"with his own cold dead hand"

Luke the Nuke is still good is it

The prospect of these dithering zombies eating each other is pretty entertaining tbh

It's hilarious how a bad tweet which I'd maintain is totally fine rhetorically -- and personally I don't give a shit -- is being used to rig the Unite leadership contest.

Hope he is elected on the back of it.

CON: 45% (+2)
LAB: 30% (-3)
GRN: 8% (+2)
LDEM: 7% (-)
REFUK: 2% (-1)

via @YouGov
Chgs. w/ 05 May

Bringing back memories of 2017, only Keith has a much lower approval rating than Corbz ever had and the Labour party has genuinely become almost completely insignificant.

xp

if I was someone who'd had family deported I'd be furious with that tweet. But the naked opportunism is so predictable!

It doesn't what any of the Labour Right do on social media, never any consequences. Reeves stanning for a fervent Nazi and Anti-Semit- promotion!

not to mention Rosie Dudfield

Lol

Told Labour MPs supporting Steve Turner for the Unite leadership are now sending this pic, inspired by the below tweet, to to one another on WhatsApp https://t.co/3ySPw7deds pic.twitter.com/QenzsTFYUP

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) May 13, 2021

Damn the legendary comms skills of the sensibles for leaving me no longer able to detect whether something is part of the Simon Hedges Extended Universe.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1MvMUQXEAEMWVv?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EyFGuhVWgAU1TJy?format=jpg&name=900x900

I think parodies usually give the game away by having competent to rather good graphic design.

lol that is very good work tbf

could almost get a rare migraine trying to read the text on the Progress one.

This is a really good point.

I’ve already some writing/thinking of this but we also generally need to be better equipped with how we respond to Black and Asian Tories, particularly the way they instrumentalise identity politics. They are flying the Tory party ranks and this issue isn’t going anywhere

— Jason Okundaye (@jasebyjason) May 14, 2021

I just simply call all tories "fucking tory wankers"

It's true, that real (?) Progress flyer above looks unreal.

Good thing that poster Calzino isn't a member of the Labour Party. They'd have had to suspend him so many times over the cost of the stamps would have bankrupted them.

#Blair4BatleyNSpen pic.twitter.com/JpVR8rRYjK

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) May 14, 2021

lol! the monomaniacal crackpot Adonis is even more fucking repetitive than me tbf!

Good discussion

Always slightly puzzled by the "rising house prices => Tory govt" logic. House prices have risen nearly 50% since 2010, as noted here, but they rose nearly 200% 1997-2010 (ie even after the GFC). Is it just incumbency bonus for whoever is in power? https://t.co/43xHqzoJml

— Rory Macqueen (@RNMacqueen) May 14, 2021

I had to check that Adonis was really saying that. He really is.

Time for the Guru imo

Anyway it's fun that just like with progressive rock, the progressive bit in progressive politics is most insisted on by some of the least progressive fuckers in the game

terms like "progressive" and "human rights lawyer" have very negative connotations these days

In the UK at least progressive feels like a dog whistle for melts, soft Tories and other assorted biowaste

pic.twitter.com/XVeZ5ULShI

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) May 14, 2021

No way would Adonis pass a Voight-Kampff tbf

he's a replicunt alright

English Greens in being clueless non-shockah

In a sense you are giving the English Greens too much credit in seeing this as part of a strategy. In my experience the deeper culture of 'working across party lines' and basic naivety (e.g. treating proven liars as honest brokers) is to blame for 95% of stuff like this.

— verblet (@verblet) May 14, 2021

Progressive politics at its best

Johnson press conference at 5pm-ish today

oh is he resigning?

an urgent and emotional plea towards Kieth "Stop hurting me!"

At most he might be gonna push back the "no more rules" date but I can't really see it tbh

Maybe he's got a new freestyle he wants to show off

Local lockdowns for areas still too stubborn to vote Tory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDGcBeSB7Z8

You've probably not heard about it but there was a parliamentary by-election yesterday, where Labour did quite well.

SNP Anum Qaisar-Javed 10,129 46.4 +1.4
Labour Kenneth Stevenson 8,372 38.4 +6.5
Cons. Ben Callaghan 2,812 12.9 -4.7
LD Stephen Arrundale 220 1.0 Decrease 2.6

Airdrie & Shotts, that is. Boris working his magic there.

Johnson press conference at 5pm-ish today

that bloke who Rachel Riley tried to sue for referring to her as a "serial abuser" has won his libel appeal against her.

Actually he might have something to say here - the billed 5pm has become 5.30 xp

Poots elected leader of the DUP, which means there is now a First Minister of nation of the UK who doesn't believe in evolution and thinks the Earth was created in 4000BC. And we sneer at the US?

the first very important question Poots should be asked is: what is his position on hollow earth theory

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1XL4lQXoAAiuXr?format=jpg&name=large

Going to keep posting this until Tim confirms that he is in fact Tim https://t.co/3hWkek2nct pic.twitter.com/lZsPF635FQ

— Dr Fran van Plannaram Ph.D. (@dismalplaces) May 14, 2021

lol! RIP Shippers.

A plan for long-term investment, to halve child poverty, to deliver a fairer tax system, and to build a more resilient and greener economy.

I love the way the most unambiguously positive thing Kieth can offer right now is 50% less malnourished children 👏👏👏

albeit in horrible bullshit terms like "plans" and "long-term investments". Can't wait till this guy dies.

Extremely here for kieth suing tim shipman into bankruptcy tho, wd buy him a pint for that (and maybe a can of polish lager for shippers lol)

just to repeat myself "child poverty" is a term of unmitigated melt evil

Rachel Reeves to consult Joe Biden’s team on Labour’s economic offer. Shadow chancellor will discuss how party can appeal to blue-collar voters and urban graduates

If she really needs to talk to Biden staff for ideas then she's in the wrong fucking job. "blue-collar voters" maybe they mean Chelsea fans? I will boldly predict More Racism and other cool ways of obfuscating the messaging around austerity

Oof pic.twitter.com/3fU5l8VLLb

— Simon Vessey (@Simon_Vessey) May 15, 2021

20+ points behind after this has aired. The Maybot parallels with Kieth are the more exposure he get's the less people like him.

the novelty of watching a Piers Moron show where he isn't even the biggest cunt in the studio will wear off as soon as Kieth starts talking