Ukpol, rant
The Labour Party being Tory-like was inevitable when Corbyn was forced out. Never forget that the establishment did EVERYTHING they could to smear someone who had most energised left wing politics in years and bent over backwards to people like Farage.
re: Ukpol, rant
@ret I don't know if there was anything we could have done; we were shouting from the rooftops that it was a smear campaign, but the media at the time put its full weight behind it.
re: Ukpol, rant
@renbymon the fact that newspapers... those silly old fish and chip-wrappers... still have such vast, demonstrable power in this country is absolutely crazy. The number of politicians that are married with or otherwise connected to the old printing presses is nuts. If we ever had a revolution, those would be the first things to rid ourselves of.
re: Ukpol, rant
Destroy what passes for "left wing populism" and when people get tired of the insipid centre (and there is evidence they ARE doing) right wing populism is all that is left.
America found that out in 2024.
Germany came very close to finding that out this year.
Britain is usually only one electoral cycle behind the US .
When it happens do not blame me.
I have been screaming about regional inequality for decades now. We're gonna have to stick our hand in the firepit I'm afraid.
Too many rich and semi-rich people with too much to lose from levelling the playing-field a bit I'm afraid.
re: Ukpol, rant
@avon_deer @ret Thatcher got what she wanted: a strong middle class that wasn't as principled as the lower class and could be manipulated.
re: Ukpol, rant
@renbymon @ret I'd argue that the middle-class is not as strong as it likes to think it is (largely because this is no such thing as middle-class. Merely working-class that happen to have BA or B.Sc. after their name. If you sell your labour for pay; you're working-class mate) but currently the electoral dynamics does work in a way that makes them see the "lower-orders" as more their enemy than the capital class that exploits us all.
re: Ukpol, rant
@avon_deer @ret Sorry yes that is what I meant: people who are often considered middle class (people who own property/assets) are weaponised against themselves and people without.
@renbymon I will never forgive the media, the politicians and everyone else who had a hand in sabotaging our biggest chance for real change in decades. Instead we now have a government that's trying to out-nasty both the Tories AND Reform.
I hate this country.
Ukpol, rant
@renbymon From a foreign perspective I must say that the idea of Corbyn ever being in government felt unrealistic to me from day 1, not only considering his extreme left policies but also the Labour antisemitism at the time - and to be fair, the UK dodged a bullet last election thanks to FPTP. Were you a normal country, you'd be stuck with a Con/Reform or a Reform/Con coalition by now.
Ukpol, rant
Ukpol, rant
@avon_deer 100% agreed
Ukpol, rant
@avon_deer @renbymon Corbyn made his own bed. He refused to address antisemitism, sexism and racism in the labour party, and he provided no opposition *at all* to Brexit - to the point he went on holiday on the eve of the referendum. Magic Grandpa wasn't all that magic tbh. The whole Corbyn family is a few crackers short of a barrel - see Piers.
re: Ukpol, rant
@renbymon honestly believe that it was our once chance to turn a corner and we fucked it.