the corbyn/momentum situation is especially depressing because a strong socialist movement driven by young people ought to be a good thing for britain. it's exactly what everyone has been saying we need for years. but all the energy is getting wasted on some guy who isn't going to be pm ever
From what I've seen, he barely wants to be in politics. As far as I can tell he can't even really articulate any policy positions he has, everything has been wishy-washy and half-assed.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
Important note to remember: Once that letter is sent the UK has two years to come up with an agreement, if they can't then they are out regardless (well the EU countries can vote not to but that is unlikely). The EU hold all the cards.
Important note to remember: Once that letter is sent the UK has two years to come up with an agreement, if they can't then they are out regardless (well the EU countries can vote not to but that is unlikely). The EU hold all the cards.
I mean we do have the option of a suicide pact, if the British economy tanks it will be bad news for the entire world never mind Europe. That is basically all May has, it's kind of like entering a negotiation by holding a gun to our head and saying "if we pull the trigger it's going to make a real mess of your carpet and that's going to be quite an inconvenience and expense to replace!".
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
The momentum stuff on the today programming just left me confused. They seem to be fighting an ideological war against people who want the opposition party to stop twiddling their thumbs and start opposing the increasingly right wing government.
These are not two ends of an argument, they are orthogonal
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Number 10 firmly ruled out an early general election. In the past Theresa May has said repeatedly that she has not plans to call an early general election, but this morning her spokesman was firmer, saying: “There is not going to be one [an early general election]. He also ruled out any election before 2020, the date when the next one is due under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, saying that any election outside the FTPA timetable would count as early. “There is not going to be one until 2020,” he said.
The Frankenstein's monster that is Jeremy Corbyn gets to live another 3 years.
Yeah the pound dropped 0.2% at the announcement today. But I've been reading that people seem to think that the pound won't drop so much this time around. The pound was massively inflated the day of the brexit vote, as all markets believed it would be a vote to remain. There was also a belief that the pound was historically overvalued anyway, as we aren't big exporters.
I've mentioned before I'm moving to Italy in the next few months - I get my redundancy money in April, hopefully it's worth something by the time I move in May. I've bought as many euros as I can afford in the meantime.
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Nothing is shocking at the point and I suspect giving a week's notice that the voting is coming will help spread the fall in value over that time frame rather than just one sudden drop which grabs all the headlines.
The Labour years in power are cited as the party's lowest point by the hard left. Being out of power while the country falls apart is great, because it means you haven't sacrificed your principles, and are therefore pure.
If you offered the hardcore Corbynistas a Labour party consisting only of themselves with maybe ten to fifteen MPs who are support Corbyn 100%, they'd snap your hand off, and delight in the destruction of the rest of the party as traitors.
But when the membership is overwhelmingly Corbynista, what's to be done? I feel like there needs to be a new party, there's no getting it back from them. There was a poll of the membership fpr the greatest Labour leader of all time, and he came first. Of all time!!!
EDIT: Ok, I checked and he's only second best of all time.
The poll asked members to choose up to three of Labour’s leaders as their favourite. Clement Attlee came in top with 45 per cent of the vote but only 5 per cent behind him was the party’s current leader on 40 per cent. John Smith was third with 31 and Harold Wilson fourth on 28 per cent.
Tony Blair came in at number six with 21 per cent and Ed Miliband was at number 10 with 11 per cent.
The poll, conducted by YouGov, also asked members which type of voters they think Labour should “mainly target in future general election campaigns”. Some 24 per cent said Conservative and UKIP voters and 68 per cent said people who for other parties and those who do not normally vote .
Asked about how Labour should approach Brexit at the next general election 41% of people said the party should promise to go ahead with Brexit, but look to negotiate a close relationship with the rest of the EU. A position that is most similar to Labour’s current stance. Just under a third, 30 per cent, wanted the party to promise to hold a second referendum on whether Britain should go ahead with Brexit or remain in the EU after all and a minority, 11 per cent, said Labour should promise to stop Brexit and keep Britain inside the EU.
Members ranked their top four overall issues Labour should prioritise as health (66 per cent), housing (43 per cent), Britain leaving the EU (43 per cent) and the economy (37 per cent).
More than half, 56 per cent, of those asked also said they had more loyalty towards the party than Jeremy Corbyn, whereas 19 per cent said loyalty to Corbyn outranked loyalty to the party. Six per cent said neither and 17 per cent said they had loyalty to both equally.
Members were also asked about whether they considered key figures in the Labour movement to be a ‘Blairite’:
Tony Blair
Is a Blairite 91 Is not a Blairite 2
Gordon Brown
Is a Blairite 44
Is not a Blairite 39
Ed Miliband
Is a Blairite 31
Is not a Blairite 50
Jeremy Corbyn Is a Blairite 2
Is not a Blairite 91
Tom Watson Is a Blairite 25
Is not a Blairite 47
John McDonnell
Is a Blairite 3
Is not a Blairite 77
Sadiq Khan
Is a Blairite 37
Is not a Blairite 34
Clive Lewis
Is a Blairite 9
Is not a Blairite 44
Kezia Dugdale
Is a Blairite 16
Is not a Blairite 25
Lisa Nandy
Is a Blairite 10
Is not a Blairite 28
Len McCluskey (General Secretary of Unite)
Is a Blairite 3
Is not a Blairite 75
Dave Prentis (General Secretary of Unison)
Is a Blairite 7
Is not a Blairite 50[\quote]
But when the membership is overwhelmingly Corbynista, what's to be done? I feel like there needs to be a new party, there's no getting it back from them. There was a poll of the membership fpr the greatest Labour leader of all time, and he came first. Of all time!!!
A mass defection of moderate labour MP's to the liberal democrats and my glorious politically viable centrist/centre left party becomes a reality.
But when the membership is overwhelmingly Corbynista, what's to be done? I feel like there needs to be a new party, there's no getting it back from them. There was a poll of the membership fpr the greatest Labour leader of all time, and he came first. Of all time!!!
A mass defection of moderate labour MP's to the liberal democrats and my glorious politically viable centrist/centre left party becomes a reality.
But the moderates still remember what happened to the SDP in the 1980s. But if they don't split nothing will changè. I never thought I'd see the day Labour polled so badly...they're 12 points behind with 18-24 year olds, it's incredible.
Going back to that poll, it's amusing how 2% don't consider Blair a blairite, and also just how many think Gordon Brown and Tom Watson are. I think Blairite is close to Neoliberal in its meaningless as a term.
Britain’s high street banks processed nearly $740m from a vast money-laundering operation run by Russian criminals with links to the Russian government and the KGB, the Guardian can reveal.
HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, Barclays and Coutts are among 17 banks based in the UK, or with branches here, that are facing questions over what they knew about the international scheme and why they did not turn away suspicious money transfers.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that at least $20bn appears to have been moved out of Russia during a four-year period between 2010 and 2014. The true figure could be $80bn, detectives believe.
I can't believe how quickly we went from rebel backbencher set to change the world to impotent idiot so passive he can barely stand against a gentle breeze.
I kind of want an early election. It'd probably head off Corbyn's plans to hand over to a successor. Given three more years I'm sure he can utterly hollow out the Labour Party.
Britain’s high street banks processed nearly $740m from a vast money-laundering operation run by Russian criminals with links to the Russian government and the KGB, the Guardian can reveal.
HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, Barclays and Coutts are among 17 banks based in the UK, or with branches here, that are facing questions over what they knew about the international scheme and why they did not turn away suspicious money transfers.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that at least $20bn appears to have been moved out of Russia during a four-year period between 2010 and 2014. The true figure could be $80bn, detectives believe.
Well it's good to know that we'll still have some valuable economic function.
EDIT: Hey who remembers the Opium Wars? Good times!
I kind of want an early election. It'd probably head off Corbyn's plans to hand over to a successor. Given three more years I'm sure he can utterly hollow out the Labour Party.
Serious question, do you actually see any way back for the labour party now?
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
I kind of want an early election. It'd probably head off Corbyn's plans to hand over to a successor. Given three more years I'm sure he can utterly hollow out the Labour Party.
Serious question, do you actually see any way back for the labour party now?
Maybe if it splits? Otherwise they'll need to get crushed at at least one GE to change anything
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
I kind of want an early election. It'd probably head off Corbyn's plans to hand over to a successor. Given three more years I'm sure he can utterly hollow out the Labour Party.
Serious question, do you actually see any way back for the labour party now?
Sure. The Tories came back from getting utterly crushed in '97, Labour recovered, eventually, from getting repeatedly crushed in the 80's. I think if they aren't shot of Corbyn within a year it'll be a long, long road. They might split, of course, though there doesn't really seem to be much appetite for it right now.
They did the hard work of clearing out the militant tendency in the 80's and wrenching the party into electable form before, they can do it again. It looks harder now because there's no one to rally round and say hey this person can do the job. Perhaps enough of Corbyn's idiot supporters have to see him fail in a national election before they'll say hmmm well I guess it would help if we had someone who appealed to more than a field's worth of people. I could be wrong, though, obviously. The stubbornness and stupidity of his supporters can't be underestimated.
If I had to guess I'd say May won't call an early election, Corbyn will get his lower-threshold rule change to allow him to install someone younger and less off-putting to the general public, but who'll still be tarnished by association and by the leftover Corbynites in the shadow cabinet and top team and will go on to heavily lose the next election. UKIP will pick up a lot of seats because people will be outraged that Brexit hasn't turned out to be a barrel of laughs, the Lib Dems may get back to pre-coalition levels of MPs. Labour will probably then give up the ghost and split or someone will emerge and drag it back to the sunny electable uplands. Or they'll just limp on, like a wounded dog no one wants to put down.
Bad timing for it, what with the DUP being shitty, Brexit looming and all that could mean for NI.
Got to remember that the worst case scenario for NI in case of Brexit is the Troubles flaring up again. Its remote, but it should be considered.
It won't have a huge impact because he'd already stepped down before the last election, and that election proved Sinn Féin are getting on just great without him. They've had no trouble capitalising on Brexit.
It's the end of an era though, and it's the loss of a man whose experience and diplomacy would have been a real help to Northern Ireland in the days to come. I loathe the IRA and have little time for Sinn Féin, but Martin McGuinness was someone I respected. I don't think I'm the only one who felt that way.
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From what I've seen, he barely wants to be in politics. As far as I can tell he can't even really articulate any policy positions he has, everything has been wishy-washy and half-assed.
I mean we do have the option of a suicide pact, if the British economy tanks it will be bad news for the entire world never mind Europe. That is basically all May has, it's kind of like entering a negotiation by holding a gun to our head and saying "if we pull the trigger it's going to make a real mess of your carpet and that's going to be quite an inconvenience and expense to replace!".
These are not two ends of an argument, they are orthogonal
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The Frankenstein's monster that is Jeremy Corbyn gets to live another 3 years.
Whoever wins (out of Momentum and the Tories), we lose.
Steam | XBL
Isn't there a pretty consistent pattern when it comes to Brexit-related events? The pound will drop like a rock, the FTSE will jump up.
I've mentioned before I'm moving to Italy in the next few months - I get my redundancy money in April, hopefully it's worth something by the time I move in May. I've bought as many euros as I can afford in the meantime.
With warning the currency should cope a little better
AKA the only successful Labour candidate since the 1970s
If you offered the hardcore Corbynistas a Labour party consisting only of themselves with maybe ten to fifteen MPs who are support Corbyn 100%, they'd snap your hand off, and delight in the destruction of the rest of the party as traitors.
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EDIT: Ok, I checked and he's only second best of all time.
A mass defection of moderate labour MP's to the liberal democrats and my glorious politically viable centrist/centre left party becomes a reality.
http://www.vogue.com/article/british-prime-minister-theresa-may-interview-brexit-political-views
Dammit Vogue I subscribe to you on youtube.
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Teen Vogue: how to smash the patriarchy
In the world of fruitcakes.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
But the moderates still remember what happened to the SDP in the 1980s. But if they don't split nothing will changè. I never thought I'd see the day Labour polled so badly...they're 12 points behind with 18-24 year olds, it's incredible.
Going back to that poll, it's amusing how 2% don't consider Blair a blairite, and also just how many think Gordon Brown and Tom Watson are. I think Blairite is close to Neoliberal in its meaningless as a term.
Softballs incoming! Softballs batted away! Good job Teresa May!
Fuck ooooooff
British banks handled vast sums of laundered Russian money
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And a suit.
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Well it's good to know that we'll still have some valuable economic function.
EDIT: Hey who remembers the Opium Wars? Good times!
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness dies aged 66 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-39185899
Serious question, do you actually see any way back for the labour party now?
Maybe if it splits? Otherwise they'll need to get crushed at at least one GE to change anything
Bad timing for it, what with the DUP being shitty, Brexit looming and all that could mean for NI.
Got to remember that the worst case scenario for NI in case of Brexit is the Troubles flaring up again. Its remote, but it should be considered.
Sure. The Tories came back from getting utterly crushed in '97, Labour recovered, eventually, from getting repeatedly crushed in the 80's. I think if they aren't shot of Corbyn within a year it'll be a long, long road. They might split, of course, though there doesn't really seem to be much appetite for it right now.
They did the hard work of clearing out the militant tendency in the 80's and wrenching the party into electable form before, they can do it again. It looks harder now because there's no one to rally round and say hey this person can do the job. Perhaps enough of Corbyn's idiot supporters have to see him fail in a national election before they'll say hmmm well I guess it would help if we had someone who appealed to more than a field's worth of people. I could be wrong, though, obviously. The stubbornness and stupidity of his supporters can't be underestimated.
If I had to guess I'd say May won't call an early election, Corbyn will get his lower-threshold rule change to allow him to install someone younger and less off-putting to the general public, but who'll still be tarnished by association and by the leftover Corbynites in the shadow cabinet and top team and will go on to heavily lose the next election. UKIP will pick up a lot of seats because people will be outraged that Brexit hasn't turned out to be a barrel of laughs, the Lib Dems may get back to pre-coalition levels of MPs. Labour will probably then give up the ghost and split or someone will emerge and drag it back to the sunny electable uplands. Or they'll just limp on, like a wounded dog no one wants to put down.
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I, uh,
What?
what is he doing?
Tipping his party's hand?
...he said while standing in occupied Crimea.
No idea! He just started tweeting pictures of himself there
It won't have a huge impact because he'd already stepped down before the last election, and that election proved Sinn Féin are getting on just great without him. They've had no trouble capitalising on Brexit.
It's the end of an era though, and it's the loss of a man whose experience and diplomacy would have been a real help to Northern Ireland in the days to come. I loathe the IRA and have little time for Sinn Féin, but Martin McGuinness was someone I respected. I don't think I'm the only one who felt that way.