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Voting for Jeremy Corbyn - the political equivalent of buying a Harley Davidson

(705 Posts)
kittylester Sun 17-Sept-17 18:18:55

A quote from an article by Nick Cohen in Saturday's (I think) Guardian

My phone isn't letting me do links - sorry! But try googling it if you are interested.

Ilovecheese Fri 22-Sept-17 20:05:31

Day6
"the appalling, aggressive stuff I read in Guardian columns, the violent, all ready for a revolution."
Could you post some links? I must have missed these.

lemongrove Fri 22-Sept-17 19:06:50

Not a good idea Tegan2 to have any aggressive sounding message stuck in your car.
Chances are nothing would happen, depending on where the car was parked, but 'Bollox To Brexit' rather than 'No To Brexit' ( although that ship has sailed) is rather asking fir trouble.
I see no reason that you can't air your views though, and you are doing, here on a forum for a start.?

Tegan2 Fri 22-Sept-17 18:59:01

Verbally, I would agree with you. But I still don't think that they would punch me in the face or key my car. The anti EU UKIP lot are the ones that would do that. And that genuinely scares (and saddens me).

whitewave Fri 22-Sept-17 18:17:28

grin

Anniebach Fri 22-Sept-17 18:16:24

No, I said I would vote for Welsh Labour

kittylester Fri 22-Sept-17 18:03:20

Very strange Tegan, I find the most vociferous anti-
Brexiteers are the left wing ones - they are very scary!

durhamjen Fri 22-Sept-17 18:03:02

A vote loser, eh?
Strange how we don't notice votes being lost, but the reverse.
Even Annie says she would still vote Labour as she is voting for the party not the person.

Tegan2 Fri 22-Sept-17 18:01:05

I am as critical of the Labour Party these days as I am of the Conservatives. The only difference being that I still believe the former have my best interests at heart and not just the interests of the rich who will welcome us not having to implement EU tax evasion rules in 2019.

Tegan2 Fri 22-Sept-17 17:55:16

Yes; we did discuss that also. He also agreed with me that, if I put my bollox to brexit sticker on my car I was in danger of having my car kicked in by a brexit supporter. I've never before, in this country, been afraid to be open about a political belief, which saddens me greatly. However, for some reason I'm not a feared of left wing anti brexiteers, only right wing ones.

lemongrove Fri 22-Sept-17 17:47:35

I wonder if that 'young Conservative voter' realised that Corbyn is just as dedicated to leaving the EU as May, in fact maybe even more so!

lemongrove Fri 22-Sept-17 17:45:50

All very true Day6 which is fine for those who agree with Momentum and Militant as it used to be called, but for the many who don't agree or like it, and hate the bullying tactics used to try and oust any moderate people, it is completely off putting, and is a vote loser.

Tegan2 Fri 22-Sept-17 17:45:19

I spoke to a young anti brexit Conservative voter this morning, who told me how impressed he was by Corbyn. This is along with my son taking an interest in politics for the first time in his life for the same reason. So, even though Labour are now having to win my vote rather than getting it automatically, it is reassuring.

Day6 Fri 22-Sept-17 17:39:11

An old article.prior to the Labour Party leadership election, but it outlines why Anniebach and other Labour party stalwarts despair. Later in the article it states that 'many local parties were ripe for takeover.' It happened.

" The battle for Labour: MPs must surrender to Corbyn or leave

Labour party representatives have been accusing the hard left of “entryism” in the run up to the leadership election next month.

The party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson says he has evidence that members of the Socialist Party and the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty are signing up as Labour members. Watson claims that these groups – previously known as Militant and Socialist Organiser – are using the methods used by Militant in the 1980s to take control of local constituency Labour parties (CLPs).

Militant’s tactics were to take over moribund constituency parties by the simple expedient of joining the party, getting themselves elected to local committees and then boring and antagonising more moderate members into resigning. This so-called “entryism” was how local parties fell under Militant control."

and

"Moderate MPs complaining about hard-left entryism should also recognise that many local parties were ripe for “take over”. A large number were small (in 2012, the last year for which we have data, more than one-third had less than 200 members, only 9% had over 500) and engagement with party democracy was generally low. Moderates in the party had themselves to blame for that state of affairs."

I think it's interesting that many quickly forget the chaos and disarray of the Labour Party, (well after the leadership crisis) less than a year ago.

Theresa May's disastrous call for an election earlier this year (which the Conservatives still won) allowed Corbyn and his supporters to claim a 'victory' and all of a sudden Corbyn was the man - even though his leadership divided the Labour Party. Theresa May unwittingly poured oil on Labour's troubled waters.

Now we are supposed to believe that the party is united and all the rifts have healed?

Very few MPs would stand by Corbyn a year ago. Many distanced themselves, quite vocally and the call for a new leader made news headlines night after night, month after month. Those rifts remain, in Westminster and at grassroots level.

durhamjen Fri 22-Sept-17 16:07:16

Can a communist be a member of CND, Hope not Hate, etc., etc?

durhamjen Fri 22-Sept-17 16:06:02

Oh dear, I was hoping....

Anyway, before the Magic Roundabout speech was going on, this happened.

inews.co.uk/essentials/news/world/50-countries-just-banned-nuclear-weapons/

Much more important. Well done, Ireland, and the other 49 countries.

trisher Fri 22-Sept-17 15:50:12

Sorry dj claiming to be vegan will not get you out of this. You are hard left and therefore a fully paid up member of the communist/trotskyist/marxist/momentum conspiracy clique that exists on GN, at least in the imagination of some posters. I do wonder though if we are hard left what are the members of the Revolutionary Communist Party I met the other week?
I'd also like a word for the people who are so much to the right, like JRM. Rigid right perhaps.

maryeliza54 Fri 22-Sept-17 15:28:20

??

durhamjen Fri 22-Sept-17 15:26:56

Does the fact that I am vegan mean I can't be communist, maryeliza?

maryeliza54 Fri 22-Sept-17 12:00:28

Of course many posts on here believe that if you are left of centre you are a communist and eat babies

Primrose65 Fri 22-Sept-17 11:55:58

It's interesting to see how many posts here view people as 'if you're not Labour, you must be Tory'.
Intelligence Squared hosted an interesting debate recently highlighting how many people feel politically homeless. They always start with a 'vote' - around 75% of the audience felt that way. It's not scientific, but it does illustrate that the old political tribes are not relevant to a growing number of people.
The podcast and video don't seem to be up yet, but it's well worth a listen if you get the opportunity. David Goodhart made some excellent observations.
www.intelligencesquared.com/events/the-great-realignment/

Tegan2 Fri 22-Sept-17 11:49:22

Annoyingly, I won't be able to watch most of the Labour Party Conference as I have an anti brexit friend coming to stay who is a staunch Conservative, and I've lost too many friends over brexit as it is (plus the fact that brexit seems to override everything else when it cones to political beliefs at the moment (hence my unease with Labour)). By the way, does anyone else's iPad change brexit to 'breast'; thus far I've managed to notice it before I post but it's going to catch me out one day!

whitewave Fri 22-Sept-17 11:44:41

Oh he will survive. They are brought up to have such a huge overweening sense of self, the ability to understand ones weaknesses simply isn't there.

Tegan2 Fri 22-Sept-17 11:41:58

Yes. I don't know how he can live with himself.

whitewave Fri 22-Sept-17 11:40:24

tegan I'm sure you are right -UKIP and another weak leader called Cameron who was frightened to confront UKIP.

Eloethan Fri 22-Sept-17 11:39:12

Day 6 Perhaps you could try putting together a
coherent argument instead of flinging around accusations of communism and cultism, and calling people sycophants. As usual, what counts as debate for some is merely insults, sneers and insinuations but nothing of any substance.

I suppose it is difficult to defend the pitiful performance of May and the Conservative Party - much easier to mount an attack on the left so as to distract from the mess we are in at the moment.