Comrade Corbychev's Cock-Ups

Rural areas are ignored

Diane Abbott was very poor on the Today program on R4 this morning.

DA - There should be an independent UN lead investigation
NR - Why wasn't there one after the last chemical attack? One hasn't there been a single one since the Syrian war began 8 years ago?
DA - You'd need to ask the UN that
NR - Shall I tell you why? Because Russia has vetoed such a call 6 times.

Just not good for such a senior politician to know so little about a topic she knows she's going to be interviewed about.

And she will be Home Secretary!

I thought she was quite good, given the way she is always interviewed. She is right to be wary, seeing how whatever she says is 'misinterpreted'.
No politician can give a Yes/No answer to a question which leads to disaster whichever way you go.
She said she wanted a diplomatic solution. Regardless of how hard that will be with the Russians vetoing, it doesn't make it wrong.
If May does whatever Trump decides, just as Blair jumped when Bush snapped his fingers, why does the Opposition have to agree?

Should she not have known that there hasn't been an investigation because Russia has vetoed it each time?

She always seems to be completely unprepared for any interview she is given. I can understand a one off or if she is asked a question which isn't related to her department, but this seems to happen too often.

Remember her comparing her opinions on the IRA with her change of hairstyle

Nearest shop from here, 3 miles. Bus fare, over £6 return!

yggdrasil, I agree that the principle of wanting a diplomatic solution is right. But when hundreds of diplomats have been working to try to get a diplomatic solution for 7 years, just repeating the same old rhetoric and not knowing some simple details about why it is not working sounds pathetic and pretty insulting. If you can't be bothered to spend 5 minutes preparing - they were very obvious questions - just don't bother being interviewed.

Again ditto MamaCaz. wondering if you live near me

"Out in our village, we probably won't have any buses much longer anyway, free or not, now that our council is effectively bankrupt! "
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"Our bus services have just been axed after 18.30 each evening"
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So how can authorities do what Labour are proposing they do to give Under 25's Free Bus Travel.?

It is a con and 'spin' and could I suppose work in London and large citities but I don't see how ALL Under 25's in England would receive Free Bus Travel.

If Labour are serious about the Under 25's getting Free Bus Travel then it would do so free of constraint. That is not what is on offer though is it?

It is a blatant attempt to get the 'youth vote' and to call it a 'flawed' policy is an understatement. If Labour wins the next General Election I hope the 6th form pupils of Derby get their Free Bus Travel as promised by Jeremy Corbyn.

Primrose yes they were obvious questions, especially when your subject is Diane Abbott. They are all asking her to commit to a yes or no answer. Whether she says, yes we should go to war, or if she says no we shouldn't under any circumstances, it doesn't take much to see what the MSM headlines would be. She did the best she could with a hostile interviewer

And POGS, first Labour can re-nationalise the buses. It is privatisation and local govt financial cuts that have destroyed the services people need

yggdrasil - I have never known any politician, of any party, give a yes or no answer whenever asked to

Hostile interviewer ? Does this mean he should have started questions with - if I may ask Ms Abbott, what etc ?

yggdrasil - she's the Shadow Home Secretary and a politician of many years experience. The subject was clearly not DA. If you say the way forward is to do something that has been vetoed several times, it's a fair question to ask why she thinks it would be different this time.
I'm sure you'd expect the same from any front bench politician - I certainly would.

I think that Abbott is only still in her job because she has always been a friend to Corbyn.She has been hopeless for quite a long time in interviews.

A little more than a friend ?

I assume Diane Abbott keeps her job because beside her Jeremy Corbyn looks intelligent. She is his perfect foil.

I didn't consider it a hostile interview. I have heard Today interviewers be just as pressing with members of other parties, when they are as incompetent in dealing with questions as Diane Abbott is. I think the interviewer was just exasperated with dealing with someone, who just ignored every question and just parroted an answer to questions not asked, as if she had learnt 10 answers off by heart and was just giving them in order, whether they were appropriate or not.

It made me wince to hear someone who is so not up to the job demonstrating that fact so very obviously.

I've noticed that, since DA was taken ill last year, that she's really struggled in interviews and appears to he unprepared for any questions asked of her. Maybe she's still not fully recovered, hence her apparent inability to keep up with questions?

But Cheebacca before her illness there was that daft reply when asked about her change of views on the IRA - I had a different hairstyle then too.

And when questioned on sending her son to a private school - West Indian Mums will go to the wall for their children

Chewbacca Diane Abbott's, incapacity to conduct interviews goes back well before last year. When Jeremy Corbyn first appointed her to the shadow front bench, which was when he was elected leader, she gave some monumentally disastrous interviews. She has been in politics, and in the limelight for decades now and should have at least have mastered the art of sounding competent in interviews, even if never brilliant at it. But she continues to give appallingly disastrous interviews.

I appreciate your willingness and kindeness in making allowances for her, but if her health coninues to be bad (health problems were blamed for her first catastrophic interviews), perhaps she should step dwn from her high profile role and concentrate on building up her health.

I do agree M0nica; whatever the reason, she's clearly not up to the job anymore. I have to say that when I hear her stumbling through interviews, I squirm on her behalf. If Corbyn had anything about him he'd stop putting her in situations that she can no longer cope with. Sad to see and hear anyone in the public domain become so diminished.

I just don't see she has diminished , she was never a shining star of politics , I am sure she is a good MP for her constituents, she must have fought hard to be the first black woman elected to the house, I felt deeply sorry her during that interview last year but is she up to being Home Secretary

yggdrasil Fri 13-Apr-18 15:44:24

And POGS, first Labour can re-nationalise the buses.
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Well yes, that is what they hope will happen is it not by applying the conditions they have imposed?

It is spin and decipt to tell youngsters they WILL get Free Bus Travel for the under 25's without making sure they understand where, how and why that may not apply to them and their area.

I posted earlier about the high cost of bus travel in our area, 12 miles from Manchester City centre, where a journey that would cost £6 plus return here, costs £2 return. The cost of travel to what little work there is in our area is astronomical. Public transport links are inefficient and expensive. A journey that takes 25 minutes when you put it into satnav takes at least 1 1/2 hours. The comment can add 3 hours to your working day, even though you are based 12 - 15 miles away from home.
I'd be delighted to see subsidised rail and bus fares, if more of us used public transport, those who have no option but to drive may have less congestion on our roads. Other European countries seem to manage it so much more efficiently and less expensively than we do.

As for Dianne Abbott. I agree, she isn't up to the job. Whether her health is the cause of her difficulties, who knows. My fear is that people who would like to see this government replaced by a more compassionate, caring one, listen to Dianne and imagine her as Foreign Secretary and decide Labour isn't for them.