I joined by making a contribution and canvassing at the last electoon. Whether I decide to stay or leave is a decision I will make later in the year and will depend on what contribution I can make with others locally. Difficult to be more specific as I was navigating through the thing and then covid hit.
I don't know if reading lots of stuff since Starmer's victory is good for the soul really (I was going to ask for a few links but thought the better of it). Give yourself a break for a few weeks.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 9 April 2020 22:49 (four years ago) link
hope these days is getting 4 pints of milk. There isn't an opposition any more. I didn't vote for 20+ years previously and can easily switch back to that mode. I was born poor as fuck and am used to living poor as fuck and with very low expectations of UK governments and the so called opposition. Fuck 'em all! I've got decades of accumulated hatred and class resentments towards wankers like Starmer and would rather die than give him a vote tbh!
I spent most of the 00's working on the poorest social housing of Yorkshire and don't buy any of the crap about the gains of Blairism. I just despise the Labour Party right now.
― calzino, Thursday, 9 April 2020 22:52 (four years ago) link
Hope is not getting 4 pints of milk, we ended up with that this morning. It means we're not getting any on Saturday
― Mark G, Thursday, 9 April 2020 22:55 (four years ago) link
Keir Starmer’s reshuffle is impressive - the Marxist nutters are out; moderate left are in. When this crisis is eventually over, and politics is resumed, the Tories are going to find that the 5 years when there was no opposition and no alternative has come to an abrupt end— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) April 9, 2020
― Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 9 April 2020 22:56 (four years ago) link
xphah!
― calzino, Thursday, 9 April 2020 22:57 (four years ago) link
Good job Osborne, the guy publishing antisemitic cartoons of Starmer’s cabinet yesterday, has no motive for undermining the Labour Party and can be relied on to play with a straight bat or I’d think he’s trolling.
― ShariVari, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:01 (four years ago) link
Could look at the way he has treated the even further right Sadiq Khan for evidence of what he thinks of the ‘soft left’.
― ShariVari, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:04 (four years ago) link
Re: hope. I think it's pretty much clear that: 1) a lot of stuff is happening and 2) a lot of it is bad (but some is good too)
We should not divorce 1 from 2 (and the item in the bracket) either.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:05 (four years ago) link
how good that stuff that is happening rn might be depends on how much you believe this will genuinely be a paradigm shift rather than a precursor for more of the same - but worse.
― calzino, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:10 (four years ago) link
btw if anyone ever falls into food poverty during this lockdown, just remember Mark G doesn't fall into food poverty but he considers that quite a whimsical thing.
― calzino, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:20 (four years ago) link
wait is this a ukpol thread ffs i wasnt told
― ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:22 (four years ago) link
Nah, just trying to keep my own spirits up.
― Mark G, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:23 (four years ago) link
soz if I was harsh there Mark!
xpGet back to your failed melt thread that was like the worst episode of QI ya cunt!
― calzino, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:25 (four years ago) link
Basically, it was a metaphor for how things seem to get better before they start to get worse.
Nothing to do with the subject in hand, I agree. I'm off to bed anyway, gnight.
― Mark G, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:31 (four years ago) link
goodnight mark, sorry for being a bit shitty. i'm beyond fresh rn!
― calzino, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:33 (four years ago) link
Jealous of your system where a party is a thing you can “join” in a meaningful sense
― silby, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:49 (four years ago) link
Here silby on a semi related note we were discussing you on the main thread and you should post there more in our opinion
― roxymuzak otm (gyac), Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:51 (four years ago) link
I’ll see what I can do. I already disappointed lots of folks by forgetting to become a Crystal Palace supporter, as a bit.
― silby, Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:52 (four years ago) link
Pretty sure imago would not be disappointed by you forgetting to become a Crystal Palace supporter.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:54 (four years ago) link
"Jealous of your system where a party is a thing you can “join” in a meaningful sense"
it's no good when most of the members are either voting for an insipid establishment melt or the majority that didn't vote because their own "real opposition" media clown wasn't even close to being up to the job. i really miss Corbyn and McD :(
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 00:02 (four years ago) link
But at least you can quit it now! What a relief.
― silby, Friday, 10 April 2020 00:03 (four years ago) link
when posters badmouth them on here I feel like knifing them for real tbh!
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 00:04 (four years ago) link
re osborne, this bizarre inversion where opposition means no opposition is totally doing my head in, as is the fact that some non tories seem to genuinely believe this
but i never joined the party anyway so w/e
― reality disliker (Left), Friday, 10 April 2020 00:07 (four years ago) link
try telling some of these "non tories" that they aren't tories. You'd need medieval torture tools to make them admit it and they've got a "plurality of voices" on their side !
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 00:12 (four years ago) link
I wonder if to some extent this idea of 'real opposition' depends on your subconscious conception of what opposition is, whether its something external and existential, a replacement - or whether its more managerial. Almost like the opposition as kind of a wing of the government rather than a replacement for it.
We see this sort of stuff when incoming Labour MPs are asked if they're going to be friendly with Conservatives or not (which is a trick question of course). Was it Pidcock that said she couldn't be? But this then seen as not playing the game, not being respectful to Parliament itself. As somehow ooposed to the concept of parliament and democracy itself
― anvil, Friday, 10 April 2020 01:00 (four years ago) link
that makes a lot of sense actually
it's supposed to be her majesty's most loyal opposition after all
― reality disliker (Left), Friday, 10 April 2020 01:08 (four years ago) link
I think this is part of it but maybe something deeper but its not easy to unpick - and it may be a difficult tightrope for the left in general to walk (oppositional but seen as able to work within whatever power structures are in place). Much of this is presentational rather than substantive, so that path is there.
I even think there's something in this, as I don't really know how much mileage there is in the combative or confrontational approach (QT etc is cringe-worthy with this stuff, and the weird mixture of acquiescence and bluster from the media ineffectual). Or at least it shouldn't be the only or even main instrument. McD maybe the only person that was able to do this. Theoretically it should be easier to play this kind of game of appealing to people who view things through this lens as its really just packaging but its not easy to see who that might be (Ro Khanna in the US seems someone that maybe might have it but don't know in UK)
― anvil, Friday, 10 April 2020 01:33 (four years ago) link
I think we probably need to distinguish between the people pushing this kind of stuff in a kind of fantasy world of 'opponents shaking hands at the end of the day after a fine battle of wills and wits good show pals" and people subconsciously receiving this narrative as 'now we have someone that takes the job seriously instead of just making cheap points" via the media
― anvil, Friday, 10 April 2020 01:55 (four years ago) link
Also: how about giving it up for the year and maybe returning to it next year.
Are other people that you know simply quitting and just not engaging in any form of politics? And if they aren't what else are they doing? (I may need some tips lol)
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 April 2020 09:20 (four years ago) link
I wonder if to some extent this idea of 'real opposition' depends on your subconscious conception of what opposition is, whether its something external and existential, a replacement - or whether its more managerial. Almost like the opposition as kind of a wing of the government rather than a replacement for it.We see this sort of stuff when incoming Labour MPs are asked if they're going to be friendly with Conservatives or not (which is a trick question of course). Was it Pidcock that said she couldn't be? But this then seen as not playing the game, not being respectful to Parliament itself. As somehow ooposed to the concept of parliament and democracy itself
― roxymuzak otm (gyac), Friday, 10 April 2020 09:42 (four years ago) link
I see a lot of ppl fading or quitting who are already busy with jobs and kids. seems like the options are just be casually involved with worthy but isolated small-scale stuff or to attempt to pull everything together yourself. no one ever really worked out what they were doing ofc
― ogmor, Friday, 10 April 2020 13:10 (four years ago) link
my position equates precisely onto SV's; little more to add
― ban laggy jazzer (imago), Friday, 10 April 2020 13:14 (four years ago) link
the ppl railing against despair, the fragmentation of the movement, or bitterly avoiding electoral politics entirely seem to be doing so out of some sense of moral obligation rather than out of any conviction.
― ogmor, Friday, 10 April 2020 13:25 (four years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVO9PXiUcAAQHHY?format=jpg&name=large
― roxymuzak otm (gyac), Friday, 10 April 2020 13:38 (four years ago) link
I've not seen any signs of buyer's remorse from any Kier voters yet. If *this* is what they actually I'm amazed they stuck with Corbyn for so long. But I suppose that is the nature of apolitical happy clappers.
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 13:40 (four years ago) link
onboard/contained
― ogmor, Friday, 10 April 2020 13:47 (four years ago) link
I think many of them had contaminated 99's from Owen Smith's Mr Melty ice cream van.
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 13:50 (four years ago) link
Somewhere between wavering and never - I think it's ony prudent to see how things play out but I don't have high hopes.
― chap, Friday, 10 April 2020 13:57 (four years ago) link
Even if you had low hopes they pretty much got dashed yesterday! I thought there might be some Kier voters despairing at a shadow cab with Streeting and JP.
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 14:05 (four years ago) link
messaging w/ ppl and I can tell they're hoping I'm going to offer some rousing morale-boosting sentiments and I'm just holding off on saying "mb see how it's going in 4-10 years??"
― ogmor, Friday, 10 April 2020 14:18 (four years ago) link
I think that timescale might be oppomistic, but these aren't ordinary times.. You never know.
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 14:25 (four years ago) link
Phone typing whilst walking!
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 14:26 (four years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVMUCIMWoAAZrMy?format=jpg&name=large
― roxymuzak otm (gyac), Friday, 10 April 2020 14:26 (four years ago) link
That one's a doozy! But Sir Kier is offering Jimmy Savile badges to nurses tbf!
― calzino, Friday, 10 April 2020 14:28 (four years ago) link
Keir's letter was only the start of it....
― Mark G, Friday, 10 April 2020 17:44 (four years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 13 April 2020 00:01 (four years ago) link
Fucking lol
‘The Labour Party’ isn’t a person. It doesn’t care if you break up with it. It isn’t going to change its ways because you sulk and refuse to talk to it for a year.— Jeremy Gilbert (@jemgilbert) April 13, 2020
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 13 April 2020 09:52 (four years ago) link
By the time my trade union processes the necessary paperwork for my subs to be switched to the non-affiliated political fund, the world as we currently understand it won't exist anyway
― Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Thursday, 9 April 2020 23:21 (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Turns out Emilie Oldknow is their Assistant General Secretary now, so I guess there's a quicker solution
― Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Monday, 13 April 2020 16:07 (four years ago) link
xp he's right, it's not going to change its ways
― reality disliker (Left), Monday, 13 April 2020 16:14 (four years ago) link
what's the new party going to be called* then lads
*at this point the name is probably the most important bit. don't fuck this up whatever you do. examples of fuck-ups: 'momentum'; 'society'; 'people's party'
― ban laggy jazzer (imago), Monday, 13 April 2020 16:49 (four years ago) link
Cunts.
― man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:15 (one month ago) link
JP tweeting up a storm over this when she made her name as a new MP by slagging off Diane frequently hasn’t gone unnoticed
Journalist Robert Peston and Labour MP Jess Philips having a good laugh at someone impersonating Diane Abbott. Racism is not the preserve of any one political party https://t.co/mGmv44zS1U— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) March 13, 2024
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:17 (one month ago) link
i thought they didn't care about little people's money nowadays
― Morris O’Shea Salazar (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:18 (one month ago) link
Don’t you know? The only thing they value from little people are their votes - which you should give up without questioning what you’re supporting - or whatever coins the glorious forthcoming Reeves era leaves you with after cutting whatever remains of public services so she can spend money getting her hair cut at Legoland or giving nice contracts to donors.
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:20 (one month ago) link
I should clarify: RR is not spending valuable donor money on getting her hair cut, you just have to clip that stuff on and you’re good to go. https://i.postimg.cc/ZqRTXSGN/IMG-7071.jpg
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:24 (one month ago) link
i assume Reeves has a big round peg on top of her head so this looks credible
― Morris O’Shea Salazar (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:28 (one month ago) link
Next ukpol thread title needs to be “short legs, big happy smile”, works for Starmer and Reeves both
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:30 (one month ago) link
Reeves' political hero, Nancy Astor ("our honourable member for Berlin") got sidelined by the Tories, mainly for being a pro Nazi regime nutjob who kept embarrassing them in parliament and she was also loudly anti-Semitic. That's her political hero.
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:54 (one month ago) link
First white antisemitic Nazi female MP >>>>>>>>>> first black female MP
― man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 March 2024 11:25 (one month ago) link
Now the gossip is that she’s been offered the whip back on condition she stands down at the General.
Fuck. That.
― steely flan (suzy), Thursday, 14 March 2024 13:11 (one month ago) link
Also RR is so clearly cosplaying Gina McKee from Our Friends In The North, along with eg. Bridget Phillipson.
― steely flan (suzy), Thursday, 14 March 2024 13:14 (one month ago) link
These Labour antisemitism investigations sure do take a long time
― feat. fish as 'the highlander' (Matt #2), Thursday, 14 March 2024 16:46 (one month ago) link
right????? scandalous eh
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 March 2024 16:49 (one month ago) link
A sham inquiry obviously, because aside from the letter to the Observer there is fuck all else of substance on Abbott to justify a year of *investigation*
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:53 (one month ago) link
they’re really dragging their feet. they must not be serious about tackling the problem. why are these antisemites still in the party. etc
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 March 2024 18:07 (one month ago) link
the way they've treated her in comparison to Neil Coyle, who had his whip restored after racial abuse of a journo and harassing an assistant. Well that shows the distinction between politically convenient racism, which is a very grave offense in Diane's case, and the racism they are happy to give a pass to.
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 14 March 2024 18:41 (one month ago) link
Centrists and terfs throwing fits because Owen Jones has left Labour, you love to see it.
― steely flan (suzy), Thursday, 21 March 2024 12:14 (one month ago) link
Yes, strange, since they were saying they didn’t need him for years
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 21 March 2024 12:24 (one month ago) link
Apparently this also makes him a grifter? Who knew!
― steely flan (suzy), Thursday, 21 March 2024 12:33 (one month ago) link
Meanwhile I'm thinking the lad might still vote for them even after all this
― Morris O’Shea Salazar (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 21 March 2024 12:34 (one month ago) link
No, I’m sure a huge part of the reason he’s left is that Emily Thornberry (his MP) has been extremely shifty over Gaza. They have been good friends in the past and often canvassed together. I’m sure people in Labour who are dissatisfied with the direction of the party generally stick around as members if they like their MP.
― steely flan (suzy), Thursday, 21 March 2024 12:45 (one month ago) link
"We Deserve Better" looks likely to be effective as "Enough is Enough" in terms of results, but fuck it, if it helps to run scum like Starmer and Streeting close in the numbers, it will have ben worth it. And it may help in Bristol West too. I have to say, I do admire Jones' stances lately, and his videos have been very useful in helping to educate my parents. My mum has really changed her opinion of Starmer and Labour because of him. And I really can't see how this is beneficial to his career, despite solidifying his brand. In any case, it's a good brand.
― glumdalclitch, Thursday, 21 March 2024 14:11 (one month ago) link
We all remember his video encouraging us to vote Labour last year - it does genuinely seem to be Gaza which has pushed him over the edge, and you have to respect that.
― glumdalclitch, Thursday, 21 March 2024 14:15 (one month ago) link
I’m a big football fan, I go to England games, men, women’s games. And the flag is used by everybody, it’s unifying, it doesn’t need to change. We just need to be proud of it. So I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.
― AlanSmithee, Thursday, 21 March 2024 21:35 (one month ago) link
hahaha we're back baby pic.twitter.com/z9QG2TFCE5— Frank Sobotka (@cymrurouge) March 24, 2024
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 24 March 2024 13:18 (one month ago) link
Bring it on.
― Tom D (the first British Asian ILXor) (Tom D.), Sunday, 24 March 2024 13:33 (one month ago) link
Lol I thought they were going to to do Euan Blairs ex
― plax (ico), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:16 (one month ago) link
This is much funnier
I think Euan Blair’s ex will be running in the constituency where she lives (and ran as a LibDem last time).
― steely flan (suzy), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:29 (one month ago) link
i just don't see Mason happening, he's too embarrassing even for Labour 2024 and doesn't seem to be acknowledged by anybody in the party that matters
strongly hoping for him to get a chance tho, it'll surely be the comedy highlight of the election
― Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 24 March 2024 17:20 (one month ago) link
his main problem is that he isn't even a useful idiot for Starmer Labour. Nobody takes him seriously and he didn't come close in his 3(?) previous attempts at standing in low-key seats. God knows why he thinks he can take on the Jam man, who is popular, respected and is taken seriously - especially on his own patch. If Labour right do run him against Corbyn it would be no-risk for them, because he's certain to lose and none of them really give a shit about him. He was an early Starmer adopter and even he doesn't give a shit about him.
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:21 (one month ago) link
good thread
That's just the tip of the iceberg.Here's another selection mentioned in the Telegraph report.Unless you believe that such a wildly unbelievable discrepancy is in fact plausible, there's only one conclusion: the results have been tampered with. pic.twitter.com/VsYD37Ulc3— Angus Satow (@AngusSatow) March 28, 2024
― glumdalclitch, Thursday, 28 March 2024 13:30 (one month ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/30/starmer-faces-discontent-as-labour-mps-criticise-election-flyers-union-jacks
Other Labour guidance to members on branding states that a “primary palette” of colours including “Labour red”, “flag blue” as well as white and black should predominate colour when producing “content or positive messaging”.A “secondary palette” has been composed to match messaging relating to Labour’s “missions”. They are “growth pink”, “green energy green”, “NHS blue”, “policing yellow” and “opportunity purple”.
A “secondary palette” has been composed to match messaging relating to Labour’s “missions”. They are “growth pink”, “green energy green”, “NHS blue”, “policing yellow” and “opportunity purple”.
― soref, Saturday, 30 March 2024 08:04 (one month ago) link
I Am Opportunity (Purple)
― soref, Saturday, 30 March 2024 08:05 (one month ago) link
yeah i'm not voting for this brown
― Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 30 March 2024 08:20 (one month ago) link
they have exhibited so much islamophobia for decades, like for instance briefing the press that they are "shaking off some fleas" in response to muslim voters rejecting them, and their apologists have the nerve to say they are reclaiming the flag from the far right
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Saturday, 30 March 2024 14:18 (one month ago) link
policing yellow of course, who can forget such sayings as the boys in yellow and the thin yellow line
― Bernard Quidbins (NickB), Saturday, 30 March 2024 14:19 (one month ago) link
:o
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party is set to unveil a weakened package of workers’ rights in the coming weeks in its latest softening of radical policies ahead of the upcoming general election, the Financial Times has learnt https://t.co/7QepJW4wLE— Jim Pickard 🐋 (@PickardJE) May 1, 2024
“The whole tone of everything they’ve been saying on workers’ rights has been attempting to be constructive compared to a couple of months ago,” said one lobbyist.One business leader said that after several meetings with the party, they were now “pretty relaxed” about its…— Jim Pickard 🐋 (@PickardJE) May 1, 2024
― glumdalclitch, Wednesday, 1 May 2024 12:13 (five days ago) link
cunts
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 1 May 2024 12:24 (five days ago) link
On May Day too; could they be trolling the left again?
― steely flan (suzy), Wednesday, 1 May 2024 12:24 (five days ago) link
love to see exploitative millionaires looking relaxed
― Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 1 May 2024 16:26 (five days ago) link