Most recent activity
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here's how to make a BBC complaint btw. it is really irresponsible journalism to tweet about labour activists lamping tories - particularly in the context of (i) labour activists having themselves already been subject to violent attacks and (ii) the senior political editor of the sun having published details on a network of left-wing activists (which he had sourced from an organisation called, um, "aryan unity"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints -
tory meltdown day. you love to see it
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ian dunt has really shown his arse in this election
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those employment rates are artificially inflated though
and yes, increased productivity is desirable because it means we can return some of those gains in productivity to workers in the form of time (i.e. not in increased wages or, worse, shareholder dividends)
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this observer 'guide' is absolutely worthless. e.g. it is recommending the SNP in east lothian (a LAB-held seat with a 3k majority) and it was recommending the SNP in kirkcaldy... but there's no SNP candidate in that seat as they were withdrawn due to antisemitism
velocio guide looks broadly sensible from a few constituencies I plugged in (e.g. kensington, east lothian, glasgow seats) tho would prefer if it recommended LAB in the SNP/LAB marginals. easier to get a LAB govt (and kick the tories out) if they don't have to make concessions to the SNP. (think westminster and finchley should be LAB recommendations too). I'd probably recommend SNP (over LAB) in glasgow south because the candidate is 🤮
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this is the woman in charge of labour’s constitutional reform review:
- The Marxist baroness of Partick is a mild-mannered woman with an immodest aim. She seeks the dismantling of the British state and a socialist reordering of the constitution. You may scoff, but if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister she will be midwife to a new United Kingdom.*
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brexit-gives-us-a-chance-to-make-britain-a-truly-federal-country-m000fhl2n
- The Marxist baroness of Partick is a mild-mannered woman with an immodest aim. She seeks the dismantling of the British state and a socialist reordering of the constitution. You may scoff, but if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister she will be midwife to a new United Kingdom.*
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that’s a big question and will hinge very much on the outcome on thursday - a labour win will lead to transformative direct investment in parts of the country that have been ‘left behind’. it will likely mean a radical decentralisation of the british state with great organs of govt moved from london, abolition of the house of lords and a radical devolution of powers to cities, regions and nations of the union. in theory this should create the material conditions for a reconstitution of this base
if they lose - and which can probably only happen if their vote has softened irreparably in the north and midlands, then... it’s a difficult question to answer.
importantly, this labour manifesto has a lot of resonant messages for the people who (during the EU ref and indyref) were ‘coming out of estates’ and ‘who had never voted before.’ those people are not all rabid nationalists - they’re people who want real change. who feel let down by the establishment etc. importantly labour has the motivated activist base to get to those people - their job is to speak to labour and undecided leavers and connect the dots between their disenchantment/brexit as means not end etc and labour’s transformative offer/the leadership’s insurgent quality
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takes a couple of seconds to look on wikipedia at the 2017 result in your constituency- that’s the only guide to tactical voting people really need. GBP is not dumb though - they know how to vote in a UK GE. big effort this week from LAB to squeeze as much more out of LDs and SNP as they can, while canvassing LAB leave voters in north/midlands and connecting the party of boris johnson to margaret thatcher
wonder if LAB may go for a GOTV hail mary in the last week and announce cancellation of student debt. youth vote will be crucial
whatever happened to the carrie symonds tape too ? BJ struggles with women & this could destabilise his campaign in the home stretch
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this is a good article on why he's not useless
this is an excellent and necessary article
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/12/jeremy-corbyn-defender-of-liberalism
Finally, take the role of international diplomatic institutions. Corbyn has a longstanding liberal (not ‘two campist’) commitment to international institutions’ capacity to constrain military conflict: a position that contrasts starkly with many so-called liberal centrists’ eagerness to unilaterally bomb, invade, occupy and devastate entire countries and regions on the flimsiest of geopolitical pretexts...
... the centrist pundits are correct when they argue that this election is at base a contest between liberalism and illiberalism. They are correct when they say that liberalism is in danger. They are simply wrong in their diagnosis of the risks. In fact, despite the anti-leftist phantasmagoria that dominates our media ecosystem, Corbyn’s Labour offers exactly the moderate, mixed economy, politically liberal alternative to reactionary populism that ‘centrist’ liberals claim to desire. Ironically, our best hope for a progressive political liberalism now rests in the electoral victory of a Corbynist movement that has been relentlessly attacked in the name of progressive liberalism. Defend liberalism against its nominal defenders: vote Labour on December 12th.