danesclose wrote:refitman wrote:SpinningHugo wrote:He's like a religious fundamentalist who won't see any contradiction to his beliefs, no matter what evidence you put in front of him.
OK, so let me try and set out the kind of evidence that would shake me.
So, on here I argue about several things.
1. Policy. So on, say, railway privatisation, or NATO, or student fees I am well to the right of most here. I think subsidising rail fares and student fees is regressive beause all the evidence says it is regressive. Being of the left, I don't support regressive policies. On points like this there may be counterarguments as to why this kind of regressive policy is otherwise a good thing, but my view is (I think) evidence based. I think we're just going to have to disagree about these.
2. Corbyn's suitability for leadership. So, I think an IRA apologist, who has been paid to appear on Iranian Press TV, sides with Putin over the west, and described Hamas as his 'friends' is inappropriate to be the leader of the Labour party, Indeed I couldn't remain a member of a party prepared to elect him as leader: I clearly no longer belonged. Now I am not sure what evidence is going to shake my position on this? Proof that the IRA were just a nice bunch of lads, or that Iran doesn't execute homosexuals perhaps? Again, I think we're just going to have to disagree about this. This seems to me to be an ethical matter.
3. Corbyn's electability. Here I think we do have a proposition where the evidence may be able to refute me, and where hard facts may close down disagreement. I think Corbyn is leading Labour into electoral oblivion. I claimed from the get go that he would never be able to lead a party where the MPs didn't want him (the PLP having the same view of him as me). So far, I haven't had any evidence to shake my belief, but here you may have me and be able to mock me for a fool in a few short years time.
Or not.
Of course, from 2010-2015 we used to argue about other things. I remember happy afternoons on CiF arguing with AK and others about whether Miliband was doing well enough to win. Years of fun. Happy innocent days.