FlyTheNest

mikems

It's all a bit rich moaning now, anyway. Some on the right wanted open primaries, so anyone could vote, yet now it is a problem that paying supporters are voting (the wrong way).

mikems

I certainly hope the unions haven't tried to sign up people who had opted out of the levy. I don't think they would do that. I got an email asking me to sign up from Unite last month, but only because I have been affiliated for a long time. The term they used was that I can vote because I have alre...

mikems

Desperately worried by the infiltration by the Communist Party of Great Britain (estimated membership approx 50) and other massively influential left groupuscules. But in terms of numbers, I wonder what way all the various Special Branch and Demonstration Unit officers have been told to vote, since ...

mikems

They want to bring back hanging here, I expect. All part of their 'vision' for UK: Victorian squalor and barbarism.

mikems

This debate is happening in almost exactly the same terms on the left in the USA. Of course the Democrats are seeking to replace their president, and are not coming from a losing position, but the debate has almost exactly the same tone as the one we are having. http://www.democraticunderground.com/...

mikems

As someone who has felt the extreme effects of family denial and secrecy over nearly 50 years this is pushing my buttons, I know that. That's why it is being said now. To upset you and all other victims and turn away from Corbyn. It's nasty politics from utter scum and we should be aware of their d...

mikems

& do we only call things smears when they touch on uncomfortable areas ? It is a coincidence that it is raised now, out of the blue, when Corbyn is doing well in the leadership election and one of his opponents, who is supposed to be concerned about the victims, is using the self-same victims a...

mikems

What a nasty smear. Disgusting politics.

Of course, the Daily Mail was 'turning a blind eye' too, to protect the high ranking paedophiles in the Tory party, linked to Thatcher.

And Mann is supposed to be championing the victims, not using them as a political card to play in a Labour party election.

mikems

To the wider population Corbyn is, and will remain, a joke.

Says who? Oh, yeah, tories, that's who.

mikems

The most direct reason we have this electoral system is Falkirk : that whipped-up Blairite nonsense that had the media howling for Unite to be taken out and shot for using proper, party approved methods to increase its own members representation in Parliament. Instead of rebuking the media and the B...

mikems

You can vote if you support the 'values and principles' of the Labour party. There's a prize for anyone who can say what they are just at the moment. The election is very much about changing the values and principles of the party from what they currently are. Jeremy Corbyn should be excluded from vo...

mikems

If they had to bring in the pay three quid and get a vote system, they should have done it properly. I don't think it is a good idea because it undermines the importance of party members' votes, so why on earth join the party or be an affiliate member? And it is wide open to abuse and will be used t...

mikems

Who knew there were hundreds of thousands of unreformed communists, who up till now have not bothered with organising themselves, that are all rushing to undermine the Labour party? If only Labour's internal democracy could be as good and democratic as the tories...what's that? They haven't got any ...

mikems

Perhaps he wants to provoke another Beef War with Europe, and repeat the triumphs of the Major government?

mikems

BSE has been all forgotten by now, then? And foot and mouth?

mikems

The bedroom tax eviction story :

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-da ... r-daughter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mikems

Sadiq Khan and David Lammy may be interested in posts in a Corbyn cabinet.

mikems

The '83 manifesto was not as left-wing as Wilson's in '74. Describing it as 'the longest suicide note in history' and as some sort of historical defeat of socialism is hyping the facts beyond what they can bear, in my opinion.

mikems

I'm not actually looking for a fight, here.

mikems

No, Foot lost because he was an organisational and presentational shambles, because his policies were so out of tune with the population he was doomed.

That's an opinion, of course. Not an accepted fact we can all work with.

mikems

Miliband was 'unelectable', if by that you mean he lost an election. Corbyn is currently leading the polling, so is not 'unelectable' to Labour party members and supporters, who are the ones voting now. These new voting rules were introduced only a year or so ago in order to weaken the left in the p...

mikems

Also Labour is unlikely to win the next election in any case, regardless of the leader, simply from the arithmetic. So we shouldn't just be thinking short-term, or we will have to go through all this again next time, barring an unlikely victory.

mikems

Michael Foot being mentioned a lot, as if it is axiomatic that all left-wingers are going to lose. But, of course, Foot lost because the right of the party split away and formed the SDP. Can they do that trick again, now, does anyone think? Perhaps they could link up with Tim Farron and his chums an...

mikems

Labour leaders with links to murderous dictators are exactly the sort of people our rulers think should be running the Labour party.

Blair is 'one of us' in their terms.

mikems

The rising anti-Corbyn panic is interesting...Blair's been wheeled out...which should convince bundles of left-wingers to ditch Jeremy, no problem at all.

mikems

Burnham, Harman and Cooper, all being politically 'clever' and 'realistic' and being wrong-footed by an idiot like Osborne. A sign, perhaps, that their way of going about politics doesn't work, not for themselves, the Parliamentary Labour Party, nor the millions of victims. Corbyn, sticking to his p...

mikems

Re Owen Jones : better he said it than not saying it, isn't it? And if he didn't work for them, who would care what he thought?

mikems

And they had built up a massive war chest for a second election...I wonder what's happened to that? A very tempting morsel to dangle in a shark-filled tank, I would say.

mikems

It's either a crusade or nothing. At the moment it is closest to nothing it has ever been.

mikems

To attract non-voters, Labour has to start saying something different.

mikems

On a more frivolous point, it would be interesting to see how the BBC would manage to continue their blacking of the Morning Star if the leader of the Labour party, and long-term columnist, announces policy in the paper?

mikems

@rr2 Each of the candidates seems to come with a poisoned chalice - a pre prepared story ripe for the inevitable MSM bashing. That's inevitable. What's important is how people react to the monstering. I think Corbyn is the only one who would tell them where to get off with their narratives. The rest...

mikems

To me what would be a disaster is for Labour to carry on as they are, ignoring the millions who don't vote in order to 'win' and do things tories would do anyway. We need a complete about turn, and Corbyn is the only one offering hope for the future. The others are simply too timid and lacking in vi...

mikems

A lot of Liberals might have dropped support for as long as the Clegg collaborators were leading the party.

mikems

Of course Anatoly. They are but mere indications, not evidence.

Any guesses on the eventual size of the electorate? Party members + affiliates + registered supporters?

Let's have a sweepstake - 430,000, I guess.

mikems

According to the Star, Corbyn has taken the lead in constituency party nominations, 49 to Burnham's 48, with Cooper on 33 and Kendall on 5.

Gaining a lot of support from students, apparently, who are registering 'in droves' to vote for him.

mikems

@utopiandreams It's only got worse since Blair's party 'reforms', which really removed democracy from the party and imposed too many candidates from the centre. Not only that, party culture changed and started to accommodate the charlatans as 'winners' and 'realists' etc. They were/are scared of the...

mikems

No surprise about that ruling. You can't override treaty obligations with domestic legislation, no matter how loudly you scream.

They'll just carry on anyway, regardless of what the law says, so it is all a bit of a pantomime.

mikems

The idea that MPs should be paid more is nothing more or less than received wisdom nowadays, accepted as common sense because so often repeated as if it is common sense. But there are never any proper, valid reasons advanced that chime with democratic principles. We should, as democrats, be demandin...

mikems

Why should MPs get more pay? They should get the same as most working people get, not be in the top tax bracket. How can they understand real life pressures if they are rich in comparative terms, and live without the same worries and problems we do? We have gone from no pay for MPs, which favoured t...

mikems

LadyCentauria,

It is a corker, isn't it?

Don't forget the e-edition if you can't find a paper copy in your neighbourhood : https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/subscribe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mikems

Good spot, Anatoly. Rather dubious reputations as left-wingers, rather over-played 'ordinary man' personas, not holding great courage in their convictions.

mikems

She's, in many ways, less awful than most of the others.

I fear she is more interested in hurting her political enemies than protecting our rights.

mikems

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-55 ... -win-votes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mikems

If strikes are to be effectively banned on those grounds, and not as part of shifting the balance of power between employers and workers, then why shouldn't a future socialist prime minister suggest banning capital and investment strikes? Or any sort of gambling on the exchanges because of the 'disr...

mikems

No, Hugo, not a serious question. However, if the reasons behind the latest 'clampdown' (fascist rhetoric noted) are 'disruption' to 'essential services' what does being employed have to do with anything?

mikems

I would have thought the most important task for political centrists right now is to stop the rush towards right-wing extremism, not prevent Labour electing a socialist as leader. But they still have their guns trained on the left, as fundamental principles of our society are being thrown away on sp...

mikems

Isn't that an illegal strike ballot?

mikems

In my opinion, we are nearly back to the political setup of the19C, with Tories and Whigs. The working class has little or no representation and has to depend on the goodwill of the Whigs (New Labour) for any slight improvement in their lives, but the Whigs are little different to the tories, living...

mikems

If Hopi Sen is 'the best' then your side hasn't got a lot going for it. Socialists are thoughtful and intelligent people, in my experience, not unthinking gamblers or stereotypes.

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