to ask why several prominent members seem to have vanished?!?

Don't lose any sleep over it, rafichagran. I've just read that thread and thought it was jaw droppingly rude in places.

You may wonder why hardly anyone posts on it other than the usual clique few.

Or you may not

Eh? How were you to know that rafichagran & anyway why can't you start a "Good morning" thread with or without " Sunday" in the title?
Did make me chuckle that Michael wasn't up & running on the day of the London Marathon though perhaps you should regard yourself as the pacemaker ?

I take offence at this remark.

their high values and their dedication to the good of the under-privileged are unquestioned and admirable

Any poster looking for an education in socialism (not, they insisted, communism) would get full instruction.

Just as one doesn't have to attend church to hold Christian values, one doesn't have to be a Socialist to care deeply about the welfare of others.

There isn't an anti-poor party, much as these posters would like there to be. There isn't a party which is out to punish the poorest sector of society. Those days have gone. Labour no longer represents the worker, it represents it's own far left desire for rebellion, for the end of capitalism, and it uses the poor as its platform for revolt, even though we have a welfare state.

"Socialism is a a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole."

That hasn't happened in my lifetime, thankfully. One can only look to places in the world in which socialism has quickly become communism. Not only that, the whole "Socialists are more compassionate" argument holds no water. The selfish hypocrisy and wealth of many socialist MPs now and in the past shows that they may wear a red tie but they take it off when they travel first class to their Tuscan villas or go to open day at their children's private school.

Those posters had no better values than anyone else. They basically supported Marxist Corbyn and far-left Momentum, the party within the Labour Party which has infiltrated it completely and now holds all the power.

"Corbyn’s mistake is to believe you can have capitalism without the effects of capitalism. Corbyn believes that
capitalism can be made to work in the interest of the working class and can be reformed to become something it can’t be. A study of the failure of previous Labour governments shows this only too well and what disappointment followed and will follow again even from even a Corbyn ­led Labour government.

Corbyn wants the impossible – “fair distribution” of social wealth through reforms on the basis of the profit motive
and the private ownership of the means of production and distribution. It is a circle he can never square."

These posters were shouted down - not by selfish and uncaring Gransnetters, but by people who can work put for themselves the real aims and ideology of far-left Labour activists.

Have noticed how the rationality and clarity of posts has improved recently now that posters are not being subjected to intemperate and occasionally insulting responses from a (very) few to whatever points they make.

Yes! I have!

Just a point Re the 'Good Morning' thread.

I don't think anyone was terribly rude and there is not a clique. There have been lots of new posters on that thread recently which is good as it's great to see what the weather is like in other places and what other gnetters are planning to do.

I'm sure there was no offence meant by having asked if rafichagran was new. Kate had probably just not been on the same threads as you.

We might be a bit stuck in a rut but we do like to know what day of the week we are talking about - after all, we are old and it was early.

Another poster said she firstly ignored my thread and that I had jumped the gun

My apologies Rafichagran, that was me and it was not meant to come across so unkindly, in fact not at all unkindly. Poor choice of word , I meant I had skimmed past the thread, not recognising it , not deliberately ignored.
And then double oops. My “jumping the gun” comment was London Marathon referenced and I had hope that the which followed showed that it was meant in a light hearted way. Obviously not. So I am sorry I upset you - please accept my apologies.
Not exactly a stranger to poor nights especially over the last 5 months I should know what a poor start to the day an thoughtless remark can make

Yes, me too. I dislike the hate which is spreading through the party, I think the disagreements here showed what is happening right through the party . I got flack for going on about the 1983 election , I was living in the past, but praising the 1945 election wasn't .

Day6 yes! Exactly so.
Eazybee yes, have noticed that too.Easier to explain and clarify your thoughts and debate generally when nobody is
Jumping on you from a great height ( the moral high grounds?)

I can't say that I've noticed that at all, eazybee. I think you're confusing 'rationality' with everyone agreeing with each other.

What I have noticed is that the News & Politics forum has become practically moribund since we lost 3 regular posters. Even the I Hate Corbyn thread has lost its impetus...

That’s because Corbyn isn’t up to much at the moment Maizie he has gone very quiet lately, and the thread is about him!
It shows that just a few grans could start about six politics threads all in the theme of ‘Conservatives are evil’ and
‘OMG Brexit’ and keep them running for years.
Threads full of misery btw.
Nothing to stop you doing the same of course, but did anyone really feel happier for reading and adding to the depressive tone, I doubt it.
GN seems a happier place without all the doom and gloom threads.

....and look at all the new posters attracted to GN.

Day6 I hope that it wasn't me that you took offence at for that quote, because I meant exactly what you do - that in the view of those posters the ONLY source of compassion is in Socialism. I can't argue with their wish to give everyone a fair return for their work and an umbrella when they can't do or get that work, but to assume that they have a monopoly on that aim is hubris and virtue-signalling. A touch of humility would have been more becoming.

Corbyn has been busy tackling the Government about Theresa May’s shameful Immigration policy and its devastating effect on the Windrush generation. Also an interesting new Labour housing policy was announced.
But neither of these things will fit your “Corbyn hating” agenda lemongrove.
The political discussion threads are generally pretty predictable at the moment since the above mentioned members, left with no meaningful debate.

The political threads are empty of debate in direct reaction to how full they have been in the past. The pendulum has swung. They will pick up gradually as people get used to the concept of posting on them.

Corbyn needs to sort out his own problem as a racist before he attacks others

The poliical threads are empty of debate because all that remains are those who agree and encourage each other to consistently post the same things. Nothing is worth discussing with such people- if you present left wing views they accuse you of being a "Corbynista" or a "Marxist". Ask them what policies of the present Labour party they disapprove of and they tell you you have no right to ask them about such things. They constantly post about how caring they are and how much they believe in social equality but refuse to condemn policies and actions which have made life worse for so many. They post about a friendlier politics but seem unable to realise how condemnatory they have been themselves. They are in fact hypocrites. It seems best to leave them to it.

"The devil and the deep blue sea" springs to mind whenever I consider politics at the moment.

None of the parties represent me at all. What happened to the real Labour Party ?

Local elections coming up soon. Another complete waste of breath and paper in my town.

Quite agree Trisher. Rational debate is impossible, no proper evidence provided for the accusations. “Hypocrisy” is a word banded about frequently but without realising their own hypocrisy.
Kinder, less toxic thread they say. But they use smear words constantly (Corbyn’s talons mentioned recently - is that not toxic or an insult?)

I feel the same Gilly, we don't have council elections in Wales this year we had them last year .

Critcism of a politician is not critcism of a poster, sadly some are so motherly over Corbyn they can't see the difference .

gillybob perhps you could explain exactly why you feel that this is not the "real" Labour Party?

I think in the past the political threads were dominated by just a few regular posters. There have been times when it appeared to be the same posters just agreeing with each other, which can be off putting for those for whom politics isn't an abiding passion.

I wonder how many people were put off posting by the sheer number of "links" which, quite frankly, they didn't have time to read through and therefore felt they were unable to comment.

We can Annie but saying the same thing over and over again doesn't make it true you know. (One of my DSs went through a stage when he was a toddler where he thought that would work)

For goodness sake start a ruddy thread on News and Politics and not rely on others to do it. .

Have some of you become so reliant on 3 posters you have been in a Stockholm Syndrome and incapable of having your own thought?

The current news is Windrush/ Anti-Semitism in Labour /Kate in Labour and they are on GN. What is missing at the moment is 'activism' and politically overt links to sites / blogs but if you want to carry that practice on then do so.

Nobody is stopping you !