Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

She lives around the corner from me (her partner is the chaplain of the residential college nearby, although I think they may have separated) and every time I see her at the supermarket I cringe a little, but at the same time find myself saying hi. Prefer having Alexei Sayle for a politics neighbour, obvs.

I know but it's the Green Party. They are small and are allowed to write fiction.

That could be said about p much every minority leftist party in Europe, and indeed is the regular accusation thrown at communist parties in Portugal ("you'll never get into govt so you can just write whatever you like").

I think xyzzzz meant specifically Berry exploiting the Corbyn/antisemitism situation there

Also her name is too close to Shaun Bailey.

Ah ok. Yeah I agree she seems like a terrible choice for leader.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words

https://img.maximummedia.ie/joe_co_uk/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL20wLmpvZS5jby51a1xcXC93cC1jb250ZW50XFxcL3VwbG9hZHNcXFwvMjAyMFxcXC8xMVxcXC8xMjEzMjkzOFxcXC9nYW1tb25zLXNwbGl0LnBuZ1wiLFwid2lkdGhcIjo2NDcsXCJoZWlnaHRcIjozNDAsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5qb2UuY28udWtcXFwvYXNzZXRzXFxcL2ltYWdlc1xcXC9qb2Vjb3VrXFxcL25vLWltYWdlLnBuZz9pZD00OTdhNzlhOGM1MjRmYjVlYzYxOVwiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOltdfSIsImhhc2giOiI5NGY2OWQxOWZmYWRhMDFiMDA1MTg4MzQ4M2NjNDI0NjYxYmM0NTI5In0=/gammons-split.png

Ian Beale vibes

Their actual platform has been consistently to the left of labour. Opticswise though it'd have helped if Sian Berry didn't slander ppl angry at Corbyn's expulsion as anti-semites.
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Yes, this party's indulgence of this mendacious and poisonous attack on socialists is the main reason I am doubtful about voting for them at all.

It would be good to be canvassed by a Green person so I could get them to tell me what they actually think about this BS. But won't happen.

As the tweet above reminds us: Khan spent 5 years attacking JC, while JC spent 5 years defending Khan.

Tells you enough about both of them.

Very unusually I have a slightly similar experience to Suzy to the Czar. She was friendly to me in the past. Maybe she has just been a bit over-promoted / 'failed upwards' in the phrase de nos jours.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/04/internal-polling-suggests-labour-heading-for-defeat-in-hartlepool-byelection

Exclusive: Party’s own figures show only 40% of previous supporters pledge to back its candidate this time

Hmm.

One Labour fixer said that about half of the Hartlepool ground team was due to leave following Thursday’s votes as a cost-saving measure. “It’s not great for morale,” she said. “We would’ve made money at party conference to pay for these elections but of course they were cancelled. We haven’t got the small donors that Corbyn brought and haven’t got the big donors that Blair had. We’re trapped between the two worlds.”

if I was Kieth I simply wouldn't have alienated the membership to the extent that the party is practically insolvent

I wonder who is moving against him and leaking this stuff, lol the friends of McShitter and Babs

That could be said about p much every minority leftist party in Europe, and indeed is the regular accusation thrown at communist parties in Portugal ("you'll never get into govt so you can just write whatever you like").

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 4 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

I think xyzzzz meant specifically Berry exploiting the Corbyn/antisemitism situation there

― nashwan, Tuesday, 4 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

It's more what Daniel is saying, but I think Greens are very woolly in regards to politics. Partly because they are small, partly because of a lack of class politics.

Hmm.

― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

I like wrecking, now

Caroline's rep never recovered from that all-white emergency cabinet of clowns and melts and Soubz she proposed in 2019. Corbyn made life too hard for the Greens because they couldn't outflank him on the left as easy as it was with Miliband so they just joined in with the character slurs on him with everyone else.

Labour leader Keir Starmer says he would give nurses a 2.5% pay increase and 'negotiate up from there'.

But he refuses to back the 12.5% pay increase recommended by the organisation representing nurses. pic.twitter.com/RujhBbGOhv

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 4, 2021

'negotiate up from there'

mother of god!

And the donkeys..

deep lols at "negotiate up from there"

“Trickle Up Economics”

It's more what Daniel is saying, but I think Greens are very woolly in regards to politics. Partly because they are small, partly because of a lack of class politics.

Still a bit bemused by your espousing one of the quintessential Macron voter arguments, but nevertheless:

On a local level I think it comes down to individual candidates as much as anything, since there's not much message discipline (lol the party that elected a trans person and a terf at the same time); this I grant you takes quite an amount of googling. But at any rate I think a stronger Green presence in the London assembly can only be a good thing, as you'll have someone punching at Khan from the left - even if it's only performatively.

On a larger scale I think your two arguments cancel each other out: the Greens being a small party that will not get into government it's perfectly safe to vote for them as an act of protest against the parties that will; the pressure applies in favour of their actual program, not whatever lib dem manouevres they might actually get up to if elected.

I’m sorry, but this is absolute gold from @BethRigby 👏🏽👏🏽😂😂

One for you @scottygb pic.twitter.com/z7S1jep8AZ

— Inzamam Rashid (@inzyrashid) May 4, 2021

this isn't "absolute gold" and Beth Rigby is a joke, but still I lolled!

At a local level it's more complex as you can potentially get strong independents on a particular issue.

I've seen more pressure from the left within Labour -- hence the wrecking -- than anything from the Greens in the UK. I've never seen the Greens do any punching left in a performative way. If they did I'd consider voting for them.

I mean where are the Green left shitposters on twitter? They don't even have talent for that lol.

I bet if the UK Greens suddenly started doing well and got a much higher profile with more of the spotlight on them then it would become more apparent that the party is in the main LibDems-in-disguise with a bigger than previously thought number of slightly mad eco-fascist weirdos.

Yeah, but who cares? It would still be bad for Labour and thus make it more possible for leftist candidates to succeed.

I mean where are the Green left shitposters on twitter?

A pretty popular option in the replies to Juliet Jacque's tweet about whom to vote for, actually. Though of course Binface still reigns supreme.

I guess I'll probably vote green for the city council as I know the candidate and he's a good un, they do have some annoying election literature saying "conservatives can't win here" which makes me wonder how much of a backbone the local party have, no better alternative though.
pissed off with the local labour party who still insist on emailing me as if I'm their mate despite several requests to stop, going to tell them I've joined another party and am leaking their campaign emails, that has to work surely.

'negotiate up from there'
mother of god!

Nah I’d never vote Green, total refusal to stand down in certain seats in 2019 is still repulsive to me. I recall Windmill Jolyon campaigning with Molly Scott-Cato despite the pleas of Labour activists that it was a razor-thin marginal, and subsequently she polled 8000 worthless votes and the seat went to the Tories. And as the result came in she had the nerve to say “now Labour must come together to support electoral reform”. Absolutely horrendous behaviour, will never forgive them for it.

Sorry, it was in fact almost 5000 worthless votes.

Fucking lol @ this shit:

Whether you're on the party's left or right, nobody in Labour has yet answered the question:

How do you build an electoral coalition that satisfies both younger, socially progressive, economically precarious voters as well as socially conservative homeowning pensioners?

— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) May 5, 2021

Owen "landlord" Jones melts faster than ice in the Sahara

Yeah, but who cares? It would still be bad for Labour and thus make it more possible for leftist candidates to succeed.

I mean where are the Green left shitposters on twitter?

A pretty popular option in the replies to Juliet Jacque's tweet about whom to vote for, actually. Though of course Binface still reigns supreme.

― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 5 May 2021 09:17 (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

there is a particular strain of black environmentalist leftist discourse in the uk that i have literally never seen reflected in mainstream culture but have encountered plenty irl (and in fact you live in probably the centre of) xyz. I remember people liking the brixton candidate a few years ago and i feel like a lot of people i know voted for him in the 2015 elections (i didn't live in the borough at the time so im not going to like /vouch/ for him). I think the green party is not worth taking seriously for all the reasons people often give on this thread but as with most things there are definitely interesting pockets within it even if they are a relatively small faction compared to white dreadlock trust fund activists and people who like the cotswolds.

I moved to Brixton in 2016/17 and haven't really encountered it. The left around here is good but mostly white.

literally one month apart, lmao pic.twitter.com/E2P5ulTQTI

— ਜੀਵਨ ਰਾਏ🔻 (@jeevanrai) May 5, 2021

Calzino - why 'landlord'? Unaware of this.

Cos he believes every weird conspiracy he sees on twitter probably.

choosing to believe what certain twitter shitposters say about overrated dickheads like OJ is not quite the same as being gullible, gyac!

This is just painful bollocks to read. Is John Harris on holiday?

Few thoughts from being there... Whatever happens tomorrow, it is clear that Labour (as it knows) can't take constituencies like this for granted - people have taken first step to Brexit party and increasing numbers now willing to jump to the Tories. 2/

— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) May 5, 2021

Labour has spent a year pandering to these voters!

choosing to believe what certain twitter shitposters say about overrated dickheads like OJ is not quite the same as being gullible, gyac!

I don’t mean to be rude but Anushka Astana’a analysis is completely worthless

This seem pretty fundamental, but I have never seen it presented quite so boldly:

If Hartlepool falls to the UK Conservatives, it will fit into a pattern of Tory wins where home ownership rates are 50%+ - wherever in the country this is. Is this the central narrative? Data: https://t.co/3qwXDZwyEX See also: https://t.co/sQ4IK2lXbB .@davies_will .@redhistorian pic.twitter.com/RidaST7UDz

— Michael Peel (@Mikepeeljourno) May 5, 2021

conspiracist lol shut up Gyac. you really are full of shit sometimes!

xp weird how that’s now acceptable analysis when it wasn’t 2015-19 when Labour was simply not racist enough.

700,000+ landlords have been created in the past 10 years. pic.twitter.com/JM8vTotSbq

— Adam Standring (@AdamPolitics) May 5, 2021

Why should homeowners vote Conservative?

Once you start worrying that house prices will fall instead of worrying that they will rise like any decent person, you might as well go all-in and join the conservative party?