Wednesday16th September 2015

[rebeccariots2]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... cs-cartoon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Beigeheart'.

Love it.

[rebeccariots2]

Have to say I'm really enjoying the respite from all those emails from Liz, Andy, Yvette, Tom, Stella and co - not to mention the endless tweets and retweets and twibbons ...

Relative inbox peace and calm.

[rebeccariots2]

Jeremy Corbyn’s victory has already transformed politics
Seumas Milne
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... r-election" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good stuff from Milne. He and Hencke seem to have pretty much 'got it'.

[rebeccariots2]

Just seen a pic of the Times front page with this headline:

Top Labour donor calls for MPs to quit party
I'll pay for defectors to ditch Comrade Corbyn vows tycoon

They would be really stupid to take him up on that. For all the reasons previously stated ... and because just think how it would make them look.

Plus I reckon that would be another recruiting call for more people to join Labour.

[TechnicalEphemera]

Re the above speculation about possible Labour defectors.......

The irony is really that - a generation after Mandelson so sneeringly, haughtily, complacently and hubristically informed left wing critics of the New Labour approach that they had "nowhere else to go" - it is the Blairites that find themselves in precisely that position.

The product of years of complacency, decadence and misguided entitled arrogance.

A few may admire the "modernising" (sic) wing of the Tories in general and Osborne in particular, but know that actually going over to them would be as big a setback for their "brand" within Labour as Reg Prentice's defection in 1977 was to the Labour right back then (as already said earlier, it would make the "Red Tory" jibe stick once and for all) and they still believe, however forlornly, that they can "get their party back" once Corbyn goes. Were the LibDems still led by Clegg or another "Orange Booker" they might just be a viable proposition, but now the man in charge is Farron - miles to the left of Blairism and someone who they view with contempt (just as he does them) And they were so decimated in May (not just the number of MPs, but viable winnable seats elsewhere - the Liberals in 1979 pre-SDP were in a far healthier position) that it offers limited career prospects anyway.

I suspect a few of the people Peston had in mind will chuck it in over the next few years and go off to make money instead - which motivates them far more than anything else now.

Blairism was a product of its time and it did a load of good. Mandleson's analysis was correct then but wouldn't be now. It also won 3 elections and built the tax credit system as a way of redistributing wealth (which the Tories are now rather stupidly destroying).

The problem with the Blairites is they made it almost a fetish, and they never moved on with the times. This is something the smarter ones recognise. They also never developed any sort of charismatic leader nor did they produce any new strategic thinkers. They are to a large degree intellectually bankrupt.

I rather doubt the veracity of Pestons story, I suspect a drunk and morose Blairite reflecting gloomily on the future rather than any serious discussion. The modern day Tory Party is a million miles away from Blairism, whatever the left or the SNP claim.

I think, for reasons outlined many times before, Corbyn is a short interlude in the story of Labour. The serious Labour politicians moved out of the progress camp a while ago (Hodges wrote a bitter article at the time). What the thinkers should be doing is finding a strategy and a candidate that can marry the basic philosophy of Corbynomics with a set of solutions that are credible to achieve it. When Corbyn goes his replacement is going to have to reconcile the two problems of a left wing membership, out of tune with the country but also motivated to change it, with the need to win an election in middle class marginal seats.

It is going to take a very special candidate with some clever policies to do that. Even if Corbyn resigned tomorrow he has set this path and there is no going back to Blairism.

Good analysis, but with two significant points I disagree with.

The first is that Corbyn set the path - he didn't, Labour was heading determinedly left from around 2005-6, probably spurred by Iraq. Brown was accepted, even welcomed because he rejected the direction Blair was headed in, of ever greater privatisation. Ed Miliband being elected instead of his brother was another sign. People, particularly Blairites, misread the signals at the time, indeed, have done for a long time. Perhaps they're still misreading them. The party hasn't been theirs for the best part of a decade.

Secondly, that the election will be won in middle-class marginal seats. Maybe, but I don't believe it will be won by middle-class voters. That's 1997 thinking. Labour has held on to its middle class voters pretty well, even in 2015 - it was the working class voters that were deserting them. Some may respond to aspirational talk, but most won't. These are people who feel politics, particularly Labour, has abandoned them. They are small-c conservative, and if they think things are getting better, they won't rock the boat by switching horses in midstream (with apologies for horrible mixed metaphor). They fear others, immigrants and the undeserving 'scroungers', taking what little they have. If they can be persuaded that the current government isn't giving them a fair crack of the whip, and there is an alternative, they are there for the taking.

Corbynomics is pretty consistent with this. Whether or not you're right about Corbyn himself being leader for a brief period, the next generation does need to be developed. Sorry, but Kendall and Umunna ain't it. The time when the left was tainted by associations with communism and militancy have more or less gone, and the next leader can afford to have leftwing principles.

Edit: Blairism did a bit of redistributive good, but ultimately left a lot of opportunities missed. It's not at all clear to me that it was necessary. John Smith would have won a decent majority on a more traditional Labour ticket. Tax credits plugged a gap, but frankly there's something wrong if government needs to spend taxpayers' money to make sure working people can survive during a boom. I don't believe subsidising below-subsistence wages is a good thing. It would be sensible now, but as you say, the Tories are dismantling it.

You may be right about Smith, and I agree with your analysis about the shifting party. The next generation should be developed, I fancy KS as a wild card in 2020. Incidentally Chukka has retired to the back benches but isn't causing trouble. I doubt he is the future because he didn't stand this time (which was odd), but I always got the feeling he was a bit of a cipher who drifted right and might well just drift back to the left. I don't think he is necessarily wedded to Blairism. I do think Corbyn set the path, on pre Corbyn nomination members and supporters I doubt he had the numbers to win outright.

I think you are wrong about the middle classes though, you have to win them. Not the prosperous ones but the ones dropping out of the middle class, just hanging on and finding, for example, their dreams of home ownership vanishing. If you don't win a chunk of the 20-40k income bracket you are going to lose the numbers just wont work for you.

[TechnicalEphemera]

Just seen a pic of the Times front page with this headline:

Top Labour donor calls for MPs to quit party
I'll pay for defectors to ditch Comrade Corbyn vows tycoon

They would be really stupid to take him up on that. For all the reasons previously stated ... and because just think how it would make them look.

Plus I reckon that would be another recruiting call for more people to join Labour.

Really, is he going to bankroll the party for say 20 million every year for five years? because that is what it is going to take.

I think Corbyn's assurance on no deselection means this isn't a going concern. Maybe if he is tanking in the polls and they cant shift him next year they will think about it, not now. For this to work it would have to be 80% of the party, splitting it and leaving Corbyn with a viable Labour bloc just repeats the mistakes of the early 80s. Nobody is going there.

[rebeccariots2]

CAMERON BACKS IAIN DUNCAN SMITH OVER CLAIMANT DEATHS ‘COVER UP’
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/09/c ... nt-deaths/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well there's a surprise. Apparently Cameron has done his own investigation and finds there is nothing to investigate.

[RogerOThornhill]

Just seen a pic of the Times front page with this headline:

Top Labour donor calls for MPs to quit party
I'll pay for defectors to ditch Comrade Corbyn vows tycoon

They would be really stupid to take him up on that. For all the reasons previously stated ... and because just think how it would make them look.

Plus I reckon that would be another recruiting call for more people to join Labour.

Ignore it.

It's that "Labour donor" who was only donating to Labour on condition that they stopped taking money from unions.

He's a Tory and admirer of Thatcher - and I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't put him up to this.

[utopiandreams]

Following on from my observation about eroding wages, there may well have been relatively higher wages back then but so was taxation. However look at who has been the most responsible for their reduction and then consider who it is that has seen the greater fall. I not only include the relative balancing of differentials but of corporation tax too. In the globalised economy of today however, international cooperation is sorely required, something that Tories speak well of yet in practice demonstrate exactly the opposite.

[RogerOThornhill]

Here's the Times story.



And Carney can butt out too - given that the BoE calculated that the QE of £375bn added about 0.75% to inflation, the amounts that Corbyn was thinking of (presumably considerably less) is hardly going to make any difference right now.

[utopiandreams]

CAMERON BACKS IAIN DUNCAN SMITH OVER CLAIMANT DEATHS ‘COVER UP’
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/09/c ... nt-deaths/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well there's a surprise. Apparently Cameron has done his own investigation and finds there is nothing to investigate.

As I keep claiming, rr2, IDS is doing his and George's bidding. I'll read the article now but why wait to express my opinion?

[rebeccariots2]

I think this headline quote should be stored away somewhere for some kind of FTN award ...

Nick Clegg interview: 'The Liberal Democrats have been damaged but our soul is intact'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 04421.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's the Lib Dem conference soon, doncha know.

[utopiandreams]

Bonnie Greer ‏@Bonn1eGreer 11h11 hours ago London, England
Our media is getting all the laughs in the #US rather than #Corbyn.
@bloombergtv giggles at crazy coverage
#PMQs

So - we had Germans making satirical programmes about Cameron and the Brits (or rather the British government's representation of the Brits) - now we've got the Americans laughing at our media.

There is hope for the world.

Yes but did any of you see the satirical Eastern (Japanese?) cartoon shown at the end of Newsnight after Corbym won the leadership election? I'm guessing 14th but it seems longer ago, maybe it was earlier because he was heading the polls. I'll give it a look and get back to you because it was funny... unless someone else is already in he know.

[utopiandreams]

I see Toby Young is trumpeting that he's the editor of something called Spectator Life.

In the issue it has for your delectation:

Roger Scruton on Jeremy Corbyn
Douglas Murray on "the Most Dangerous Job in the World" which turns out to be 'being a right wing pundit on Newsnight'. Yes, really...

Think I'll pass...

I can think of far more dangerous job, Roger, but would have to kill you if I told you. Perhaps I should have a word with Toby.

Edit: rephrased 'we spoke of it' to 'I told you'

[rebeccariots2]

Bonnie Greer ‏@Bonn1eGreer 11h11 hours ago London, England
Our media is getting all the laughs in the #US rather than #Corbyn.
@bloombergtv giggles at crazy coverage
#PMQs

So - we had Germans making satirical programmes about Cameron and the Brits (or rather the British government's representation of the Brits) - now we've got the Americans laughing at our media.

There is hope for the world.

Yes but did any of you see the satirical Eastern (Japanese?) cartoon shown at the end of Newsnight after Corbym won the leadership election? I'm guessing 14th but it seems longer ago, maybe it was earlier because he was heading the polls. I'll give it a look and get back to you because it was funny... unless someone else is already in he know.

I think I remember seeing that - and you're right, it was funny.

[rebeccariots2]

Chris Ship ‏@chrisshipitv 2m2 minutes ago
Corbyn doesn't *do* media in conventional sense (which is what work for him in campaign) but I hear new press operation being built tonight

[utopiandreams]

That Eastern animation was on the 10th (still haven't checked where it's from). Anyway 40m in: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... t-10092015

[Hobiejoe]

Here's a little something I've just noticed - make of it what you will - but looking for something to watch on iPlayer after work, I notice that PMQs appears on the list of today's most watched programmes.

Can't really recall seeing that before.

[utopiandreams]

Up at 4.30 so it's a Lemsip and bed for me. I'm full of it, I am.

[rebeccariots2]

Sorry, it's late - but this really made me laugh.

Natalie Rowe retweeted
Mr Roger Quimbly ‏@RogerQuimbly Sep 8
Just farted so long and hard that my voice recognition software wrote a Daily Mail column.

[RogerOThornhill]

Dear me, I've just read the Hansard report on what Nick Gibb said...

Mr Gibb:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that, and I was grateful for her involvement in, and contribution to, our deliberations in Committee. She knows what she is talking about, because she is chair at an extraordinary academy trust, the Michaela community school in Wembley, which was established by the formidable Katherine Birbalsingh. It is now into its second year and I recommend a visit to that school to any hon. Member who is interested in education. They will see a school that serves one of the most deprived parts of London delivering education of a quality that will astonish them. It is an astonishingly good school, and I am looking forward to its first set of GCSE results in three or four years’ time.

[utopiandreams]

Sorry, it's late - but this really made me laugh.

Natalie Rowe retweeted
Mr Roger Quimbly ‏@RogerQuimbly Sep 8
Just farted so long and hard that my voice recognition software wrote a Daily Mail column.

Stop it, rr2, I'm trying to calm myself for bed.

[LadyCentauria]

Sorry, it's late - but this really made me laugh.

Natalie Rowe retweeted
Mr Roger Quimbly ‏@RogerQuimbly Sep 8
Just farted so long and hard that my voice recognition software wrote a Daily Mail column.

That just might be the Tweet of the Year

[RogerOThornhill]

Mr Gibb:
I shall come to that, if the hon. Gentleman will be patient.

The academies programme is delivering autonomy and freedom from control by local bureaucrats,

Seriously, just fuck off you lying piece of crap.

What do you think academy trust CEOs are exactly - teachers?



Edit - this is the bottle of Hobgoblin talking...

[RogerOThornhill]

Enough already - get tired of all the lies being told to prop up their ideology.

Night all.

[utopiandreams]

Before I go I'll just add a tale of my trip to the supermarket today. Why? Well why not, if only to amuse, and if I say so myself it was rather funny involving interaction with quite a few others. I shall have to keep it short and sweet... Maybe in the morning as I really do have to get up and am full of cold and possibly due to my recent lack of sleep after all. Cheers.

Bet you can't wait till the next episode! Keep 'em wanting more, I always say. Goodnight.

[TechnicalEphemera]

I think this headline quote should be stored away somewhere for some kind of FTN award ...

Nick Clegg interview: 'The Liberal Democrats have been damaged but our soul is intact'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 04421.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's the Lib Dem conference soon, doncha know.

The body destroyed but the soul intact.

A ghost, in other words?

Well depending on your choice of genre, we either need to exorcise the bastards, or find the body dig it up, salt it and burn it.

Do both to be on the safe side and job well done.

[LadyCentauria]

Dear me, I've just read the Hansard report on what Nick Gibb said...

Mr Gibb:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that, and I was grateful for her involvement in, and contribution to, our deliberations in Committee. She knows what she is talking about, because she is chair at an extraordinary academy trust, the Michaela community school in Wembley, which was established by the formidable Katherine Birbalsingh. It is now into its second year and I recommend a visit to that school to any hon. Member who is interested in education. They will see a school that serves one of the most deprived parts of London delivering education of a quality that will astonish them. It is an astonishingly good school, and I am looking forward to its first set of GCSE results in three or four years’ time.

It's ludicrous, isn't it. I listened almost open-mouthed to his contributions, today. I say almost because I was fighting to keep my mouth shut so that I could hear him rather than my own expletives!

Mind you, I'm rather looking forward to those results - but we might well need to rely on you (and others here) to enlighten us if they turn out to be less than stellar because they might not get much publicity.

[LadyCentauria]

Am just listening (rather late) to PMQs in the repeat of DP and note that Cameron's reply to Corbyn's final question. Cameron managed to criticise GPs for failing to provide mental health services, "particularly the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that is now widely available." As if CBT was an answer to everything...

[utopiandreams]

... My shopping trip. Forget all the detail because it would take much longer than the trip itself so let's just say that rather than being in a shy and retiring mood I was perhaps a little eccentric. maybe a little loquacious too. It all started so innocently when I saw a young lady serving someone at the 'Make you own' pizza counter so dashed over before they left with a, "I'll have some of that, please" than explaining that last time I had waited an age because I'd come when they were preparing sandwiches in the adjacent room. 'And so it was with much chat, flattery even flirting that things proceeded. Meanwhile the shopper about my daughter's age was much amused and laughing at every detail including my crass jokes, obviously I then included her in my conversation too. Can't have her feeling left out, can we?

A little later a lady of my own age range sidled up to me and asked whether I'd heard the rumour that the store was closing down. No I hadn't but exchanged a few words bout Sainsbury's being the only other supermarket with similar choice yet without appearing more expensive per item, trolley-full shopping always seemed more so. Going up and down the aisles there were further exchanges with each gradually getting louder and more silly as they progressed. There were other similar and varying encounters with other shoppers, male too.

Finally when I had completed my choice I was immediately next to the young lady I'd first encountered at the pizza counter. "Are you done yet, 'cause I'll race you to the checkout." I was joking really but she took me up on it. Never a one to be beaten I finally got the jump on her when a text message came in, so I stopped to see what it was; my eldest requesting a lift in fifteen. Oh dear hardly any staffed checkouts and such queues! Oh well, having checked the time I remarked to the young lady that it were my son and how am I going to get out of here. Although she was now in the lead she very kindly offered that I go before her, for which I was most appreciative.

'And who should be immediately ahead of us? Only the other lady with whom I'd been having much merriment... and so it continued. It was only then that I noticed her husband so hesitantly explained that there was nothing untoward in my advances, given some of what I had said. "No matter, mate, you're welcome to her."

Did I not mention that the young lady looked like she had learning difficulties? Yet here she was independently shopping for herself and seemingly understanding every one of my jokes. Eventually I stated that she looked familiar and asked did she know my daughter. Indeed she did she was the same age and had been to both primary and secondary school with her. Then the older lady in front of us interjected with, "Excuse me did you say you were your daughter's father?" and, "Yes the young lady did look familiar." It transpired that she used to teach at the primary school and had known both of them so there was much to talk about at the checkout queue.

Finally when I went to pick up my lad he was nowhere to be seen but a conversation with his boss and I quickly ensued. once it were over a text came in explaining that he had already been picked up by his partner. I texted back not to worry as I'd met and been flirting with his boss. Have I mentioned that my youngest in particular doesn't like taking me anywhere? My eldest although sometimes embarrassed is much more outgoing.

Just saying. Btw posted as is with no proof-reading so I expect the worst. Nearly getting up time after all.

Edit: finally addressed the typos... and no, Morrisons in Swad is not closing down. The elder lady checked with an assistant, following which I asked had she checked the veracity of the rumour. Obviously I expressed my overwhelming relief having been seriously, nail-bitingly and otherwise upset!

Secondly: ... some more typos.

Thirdly: for the avoidance of doubt I did not flirt with my son's boss, just winding him up as I shall clarify when I next see him.

[utopiandreams]

For absolutely no other reason than saying so after my recent dispiriting shopping trip in Burton when I bought my granddaughter a present that may only have a limited capacity to keep her enthusiastically engaged I have just thought what else to buy her and considerably cheaper too. A range of pencils from 4B up to 4H, a rubber, sharpener and some paper, cartridge may be a waste at this age but at least allow her the opportunity to experiment and discover for herself.

I shall likewise stock up with similar pencils for when she visits. I gave her some chalks a while back and we often draw together on her patio and when she is here, rather than use her crayons and the colouring book I bought she picks out pencils, one for me and one for her and then up to a point directs what it is that we shall draw. I also show her other stuff to try her hand.

Anyway I'm sure that this shall engage her far more than any glitzy toy.

Postscript: just getting in some early practice. 'B' is for 'black'. 'H' is for 'hard'. 'B' is... Bloody hell, HB? It may be right but doesn't sound as good as 'hardly black' but let's not draw any false impressions.

[utopiandreams]

Am just listening (rather late) to PMQs in the repeat of DP and note that Cameron's reply to Corbyn's final question. Cameron managed to criticise GPs for failing to provide mental health services, "particularly the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that is now widely available." As if CBT was an answer to everything...

Why worry about the lack of doctors or medical practitioners for CBT delivery though? Surely the DWP are going to take up the slack, LadyC, according to IDS and his beliefs on changing behaviour with Cameron's full backing too.

Job well done and led by the one who is good at his own!

Postscript: should they not be nudged out of their condition, they can always be pushed to oblivion by sanction. As long as they don't appear in any government data, another job done.