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Labour Leadership watch

(627 Posts)
Gracesgran Mon 24-Aug-15 10:26:17

I thought, as the message says "start a new thread" that I should.

A quote from an article by Jeremy Corby to start this thread off.

"Ours is a democratic socialist party. Nearly 300,000 people now have that on the back of their Labour Party membership card. Our members and supporters have ideas, experience and knowledge that are a valuable resource - and none more so than our local councillors; often, the most innovative ideas are delivered in local government. Shadow minister and policy advisers do not have a monopoly on wisdom, so the must interact with party members and supporters. By making policy together, we make better policy"

and a little further on ...

"I stood in this campaign to open up a debate, to engage new people and to rebuild our party as the movement it needs to be. That is not just an approach for the leadership election but one to win in 2020."

soontobe Tue 25-Aug-15 14:50:55

Is GO using QE? confused

durhamjen Tue 25-Aug-15 14:57:49

I dare you to google it, soon. I could put links up but you will not read them.

soontobe Tue 25-Aug-15 15:04:16

cant see that he is. Have looked on google.

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 16:11:52

dj, making someone a president forever is essentially making a dictatorship. Think Mugabe and some others. Do you really think that's a good idea?

Countries who can't vote out their leaders haven't got democracy.

ww, like your post about Paine. I think what puts me off JC is that I find his policies too simplistic.

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 16:15:36

eloethan, I think it's actually quite hard for a politician to answer with what I think you mean by 'honest' answers. There often isn't a 'straight' or simple enough answer to be able to do that. Politics is quite complicated. Ideals are great but it's rare that idealism works in the real world, if at all.

rosesarered Tue 25-Aug-15 16:38:27

Eloethan, I do have problems with the name of the gig you attended though, or was it ironic? The People's Assembly Comedy Benefit Gig, sounds like something that took place in Moscow in 1962.

rosesarered Tue 25-Aug-15 16:39:19

I also echo what Thatbags has just written about straight answers.

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 16:46:06

What has JC to say, in his straighforward way, about faith schools? Anyone?

Anniebach Tue 25-Aug-15 16:57:10

Many questions put to a politician can be given a straight answer surely

Ana Tue 25-Aug-15 16:58:36

That's a good example of a politician's response...

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 17:10:30

If one's talking about the politician's ideals, then yes, ab, but not so easily if one's talking about practical solutions to problems in society.

Eloethan Tue 25-Aug-15 17:25:26

thatbags Have you always been an apologist for "tricky" politicians who try and wriggle their way out of difficult questions? It seems that a large number of people are turned off politics because they are sick of lies and prevarication and of MPs of all colours who do nothing but parrot "the party line". Andy Burnham has boasted that he has never defied the party whip. I don't think that is something to be proud of - particularly in the case of the Iraq war and the Conservatives' austerity programme.

The prospect of Donald Trump becoming US President is mystifying and terrifying in equal measure. How can the American people find anything in this obnoxious man to trust or admire? Having said that, only the rich (or those backed by the very richest) will ever have a chance of being elected, although it's good to see that Bernie Saunders is, against all the odds, certainly making some waves.

rosesarered You seem to be rather preoccupied with Moscow. Perhaps it is you that is stuck back in 1962.

soontobe Tue 25-Aug-15 17:35:34

Donald Trumpis not really mystifying.
He is saying what a lot of American people are thinking.

Now there is a politican who tackles difficult issues head on.

He has apprently given 68 media interviews in the last two months.
Hillary Clinton? 2

rosesarered Tue 25-Aug-15 17:41:24

So the name of the gig wasn't ironic then?

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 17:55:24

In answer to your question, elo, no, and I'm still not. I'm discussing things that arise in this thread, trying to cover all angles (failing no doubt, but trying).

TriciaF Tue 25-Aug-15 18:21:13

As I think I've written before, I don't support Corbyn because I think he would make a good PM, but because he would provide a platform for an effective OPPOSITION (sorry to shout.)
The present LP group in the Commons is so feeble and compliant that the Tories are getting away with murder. They have to be stopped.
The Tories have rebels within their own party, and could be brought to a situation as in 1995 when John Major was forced to resign, if there was a strong opposition from the left.
I think that the only way Labour is going to win the next GE isn't because the electorate change their views, but because the Tory party collapses internally.

Tegan Tue 25-Aug-15 18:27:48

I don't think Donald Turnip is too dangerous. From what I've heard of his exploits in Scotland his sole aim in life is to turn the whole world into a golf course.

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 18:57:19

I've done the washing-up now so I can carry on where I left off in my apologia. President Obama is a good example of a politician with many good intentions but who has been prevented from carrying out all the reforms he would like to have achieved by political complications outwith his control, such as the kind of effective opposition that Tricia is talking about. Whether one agrees with Obama's aims or with the "effective opposition" is not the issue in the discussion I was having which, clearly I had hoped (mistakenly it would seem), was about the inherent messiness of human endeavours.

thatbags Tue 25-Aug-15 18:57:45

"apologia" in inverted commas, it should be.

rosesarered Tue 25-Aug-15 19:43:31

Oh, I like the turnip name for Trump. he seems an awful man from all I have read.

Anniebach Tue 25-Aug-15 21:00:42

I too think him an awful man

durhamjen Tue 25-Aug-15 22:14:20

Bags, I did not say my grandson thinks Obama should be a dictator.
Obama cannot be given a third term, or a fourth term because that is US democracy. He cannot be voted in any more because two terms is as much as any president can have in the US.
Please read properly before you accuse.

durhamjen Tue 25-Aug-15 22:17:34

Not very good at googling are you soon.
I have just googled George Osborne and QE and got pages of the stuff.

whitewave Tue 25-Aug-15 22:24:59

See that Corbyn's QE isn't looking quite so silly now.

durhamjen Tue 25-Aug-15 22:35:23

Just for you, soon.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/08/25/10-billion-of-peoples-style-quantitative-easing-was-authorised-by-george-osborne-in-2012/

See, Osborne thought it was a good idea in the last parliament. He just did not understand what he was doing. Nothing new there, of course.