New World Order - Politics 2021

[Rebel Pebble]

It's all utterly depressing. Nothing declared around here yet.

I can't say I was surprised about Hartlepool. I was still up when they announced the result in 2019 and I remember (surprisingly clearly given how wankered I was by then) the commentators saying the Brexit party saved Labour's bacon.

I'm not sure Labour can ever capture the traditional tory heartlands. Even under Blair everything around here stayed blue. I'd totally vote for Andy Burnham but I can see how he'd have to tone down the North/South rhetoric to avoid alienating London voters, where Labour does x actually have a chance.

Under FPTP I have no idea how this is fixed basically. The Wimbledon result in 2019 made me want to scream. It was like a microcosm of everything that's wrong with FPTP and how the Tories won partly because of tribalism.

[smalex]

Screenshot_20210507-192608_Chrome.jpg

This did make me feel marginally more positive.

[Rebel Pebble]

It's definitely the only way out but I'm struggling to. Imagine it right now.

[rosy]

The laughter when the returning officer read out Jayda Fransen’s 46 votes - 0.1% of the vote. Even someone called Greg Energy Advisor got more than three times that.

https://twitter.com/glove931/status/139 ... 16612?s=21

As a (very) bitchy aside, Jayda Fransen is only 35, which I think is proof of Roald Dahl’s observation that ugly thoughts make you look ugly.

[sally maclennane]

Nicola Sturgeon was spot on with her, she is a fascist and a racist.

[Red]

That's very sensible. I do hope Keir reads it.

This bit articulates some of what I was trying to say above but wasn't really nailing.

This comes down to the central dilemma Labour faces – the trap it is caught in as a new cultural politics mangles its electoral alliance. It can’t go full culture war nationalist, or it loses its young metropolitan voters. But it can’t go full culture war liberal either, or it speeds up the loss of older socially-conservative voters. Labour leaders often find themselves in a position where they are unwilling to offend anyone. It was this problem which turned Miliband from an interesting and thoughtful politician into a kind of faceless android. And there are signs the same thing is happening to Starmer.

I aree with this. For a start I think Labour need to stand for something tangible and KS needs to have a few of those fights he's been avoiding.
He needs to boot out the hard left. And he needs to work out if identity politics is going to be central to their stance as a party.
There have been lots of mutterings of women not voting Labour due to their stance on womens rights. Saying that there are some of the woke-crew who say they won't vote Labour now as the party 'threw trans people under the bus'.
My view would be to keep the left-leaning, LGBT supporting women who want to vote for Labour, on side. There are a lot of us.

This made me laugh though.

They want socialism by... voting Conservative.

[smalex]

Right?! I do not understand this insistence that if only Labour was more left wing they'd win when the swing has been heavily towards right leaning populists. Er. Yeah. 2 + 2 really IS 5.

[Red]

Right?! I do not understand this insistence that if only Labour was more left wing they'd win when the swing has been heavily towards right leaning populists. Er. Yeah. 2 + 2 really IS 5.

Exactly. There is something so unbelievably smug about Momentum and the hard left in Labour. 'Sit down and let me, a middle class woke kid tell you, a single Mum of two how you can make your life better...'

There was a clip from an interview shortly before the 2019 GE of a working-class Northern man being patronised by a young head-tilty middle class women, who wasn't listening to him and couldn't wait to spout off about socialism. It was excruciating.

[Marth]

Southampton council has fallen to the Tories. Labour are losing yet again. It's so depressing

[Marth]

Right?! I do not understand this insistence that if only Labour was more left wing they'd win when the swing has been heavily towards right leaning populists. Er. Yeah. 2 + 2 really IS 5.

Yes, it's nonsense. The country is terrified of the "hard left".

[Ruby]

I do think Labour has a lot of ground to make up. Brexit/Corbyn/culture wars - all of these issues have made people feel that the Left is not for them. I think the Very Online Left doesn't help by screaming at people constantly for having a minor difference in viewpoint. Blair did well with a sort of benign patriotism and Labour have to find a way of positioning themselves as British without coming across like plastic Tories. Starter standing in front of a flag, looking uncomfortable, is hardly Cool Brittania.

It's a weird election and a difficult electoral climate. Yes Boris is a prick, but also Rishi Sunak has effectively been paying people's wages for the last year. And Andy Burnham has won on a platform of taking the buses into public ownership. I dunno.

What I don't understand is why Starmer has sacked Angela Rayner. If nothing else, she is famous for her ability to play both sides and is very popular with voters in the red wall.

[Rebel Pebble]

Southampton council has fallen to the Tories. Labour are losing yet again. It's so depressing

Here, while the the Tories have held Surrey County Council, they've lost quite a few seats (mostly to Lib Dems and Independents) and our Borough Council remains NOC with two more Tories losing to Lib Dems including in my ward.

None of that is much comfort to Labour but like I said upthread they're never going to get any kind of serious foothold in the home counties to offset losing red wall seats.

The PCC is now between the Tory and Lib Dem candidates. The incumbent Independent has lost in the first round.

[smalex]

I was a bit bemused about the bus talk, like a Churchill we'll fight them on the beaches . Then I remembered Bristols public transport

[Marth]

Yes, I know she was campaign lead but this seems too harsh, too soon. Unless of course he's disagreed with the strategy all along.

[Ruby]

Marth, I am also wondering if something has been going on behind the scenes. It seems such a weird decision.

Honestly, Greater Manchester's public transport is woeful. I still maintain that Labour could win any election by promising to sort out dog shit, parking and bins.

[Marth]

Marth, I am also wondering if something has been going on behind the scenes. It seems such a weird decision.

Honestly, Greater Manchester's public transport is woeful. I still maintain that Labour could win any election by promising to sort out dog shit, parking and bins.

That's actually what the electorate want. Actually labour would storm it if they promised to remove cycle lanes.

[Loralei]

Marth, I am also wondering if something has been going on behind the scenes. It seems such a weird decision.

Honestly, Greater Manchester's public transport is woeful. I still maintain that Labour could win any election by promising to sort out dog shit, parking and bins.

I would vote for that. Mind you, the tory candidate in my ward stood on a platform of "someone should do something about the terrible litter problem!" and was inundated with replies of, "How about reversing the cuts your party enforced?"

[Bat Macdui]

Sacking Angela Raynor moments after saying 'I take full responsibility' was really an utterly daft thing to do. It looks awful whichever way you try and spin it. What on earth did he think he was going to achieve??

[Marth]

Yes, I think it's ill judged. I really struggled to care about the actual politicians in the LP at the moment, and just want to knock all their heads together.

[Red]

It will be interesting to see what the rest of the shuffle looks like.
My only experience of seeing AR is the same as Nisa Landy and their inability to define what a woman is.

AR posted a video on Twitter on TDOR but not a peep on Int Women's Day, nor did she acknowledge the hundreds of women killed by men each year.

TBH the least I want is the female leaders within the party to act they have women's best interests at heart and I don't get that from them.