Corbyn / BBC declare social class of employees?

If you can identify a single communist policy in the Labour Party policies Annie would you please name it (but I think we've been here before).

I have been a member of the Labour Party for over 50 years, I dread Corbyn and his cronies leading the party into the next general election, a man who can admire the president of Venezuela, praised it as an inspiration to us all . This is far left politics , Corbyns politics.

Trisher, you really believe every new government sticks to its manifesto. The manifesto is to garner votes, I am sure if Corbyn is elected he will carry out part of his manifesto, it’s what he has not included - and his belief in communism - which really frightens me.

Venezuela is a different place and needed different measures. I have yet to see a reasonable post that explains why it is wrong to look at equal opportunities, or to maintain the policies which have led to the real progress most of us have experienced in our lifetime.

Oh come off it Annie there have always been communists in the Labour party and many of them have held positions of authority, but strangely enough we have never had a communist regime. Even if Corbyn is (and I don't believe he is) a communist, he isn't able to institute a communist regime all on his own. Or do you think the Rusian revolution (which is one of the few communist victories) was all the responsibility of one man and nothing to do with a whole country revolting?

Why is Corbyn a "champagne socialist"? Is there any evidence that Corbyn has the sort of lavish lifestyle which would earn him such a title?

As for Venezuela, Wikileaks published information that revealed the US's intention to destabilise the country using a number of methods, including sanctions and the funding of opposition parties. It isn't by any means the first time that the US has interfered with countries with which it is politically at odds.

There has never been a Labour Party with a communist leader and the present leader has surrounded himself with like minded people. The communist party announced they would not field candidates at the last election, normal practice for the communist party?

I don't think I have ever said that it is wrong to look for equal opportunities, or denied the benefits of socialist policies - well, also liberal policies, because there were liberal with a small L reformists and reformists of other parties long before there were socialists as such. I don't even see very many posts which veer towards views like those Trisher says are rampant on GN.

What I am cautious about is the drive toward the state collecting every detail of everyone's lives for the ostensible purpose of giving everyone those equal opportunities. The good intention is there, but it is open to abuse. The data collected could also be used to identify and penalise groups and individuals that seem to be a threat to those in power at any given time.

Ooo Reds under the beds again! Maybe we should introduce the McCarthy questions again "Are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party". Or maybe you should just leave your suppositions in the 1930s where they belong.

Maybe we should introduce the McCarthy questions again "Are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party"

Isn't that what Corbyn wants to do with BBC employees?

However, in his case the answer 'Yes' would probably mean approval.

Isn't it wonderful that we've grown up and prospered in our welfare state - nhs, education, freedom of worship, etc?
Now let's pull up the ladder so that the upcoming generations can't!

Nhs being sold off, housing crisis, education funding cut to the bone, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on the increase.

Now remind me when left/ right wing governments were in charge.

Excellent post elegran.
(At least in Scotland some aspirations and achievements have survived so far.)

An article in the New York Review of books describing the anti-semitism crisis in the Labour Party as "a ruinous proxy for what is, in its essence, a struggle between social-democrats and socialists for the soul of the party."

Behind the Anti-Semitism Crisis of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party

The data is already being collected Elegran but by marketing companies and other organisations not necessarily the state. And a certain amount of information has always been held by the state, that's why we have a census and the form about ethnic origins. If you want not to be part of that you would need to cease communicating and using technology

Good post, Elegran, pointing out the dangers of a Big Brother State.

No-one is arguing against maintaining those social benefits which we enjoyed.

And since I have it in front of me, another on How Totalitarianism arrives which illustrates an earlier post of mine on the creeping normalisation of attitudes until things are commonplace which would previously have been completely unacceptable to everyone.

'pulling up the ladder'...
Do you you mean things like getting rid of direct grant grammar schools, like the labour party did?

light the blue touch paper...

Ah yes grammar schools. WHY on earth does the Labour party hate them so much when it was bright children from poor families who benefitted most from them ?

The best education money can't buy.

jalima I agree that no-one is arguing that we shouldn't maintain these benefits but my point is that credit is not being given to those who achieved them and blame is not being heaped on those who are destroying them.

There is also an ever increasing complacency (as illustrated on GN).
Think of how many posts have rejoiced in the fact that increasing amounts of the family wealth can be passed on thanks to changes in inheritance tax linked to the 'de'il tak' the hindmost' attitude we so often see.

I am not against the changes in inheritance tax mcem - because the younger generation will benefit from those changes which will help them to purchase property and to do their best for the next generation.

Any money saved which may be passed on has had tax paid on it in many different ways.
It's those evading tax where the blame is due imo.

If you read my post trisha, you would have noticed that I think the working poor and those on benefits for health and mobility reasons do need help and should be a priority whatever government is in power.

My problem with Corbyns Labour Party is that if he puts up taxes for business (corporation tax and VAT) to the extent that companies stop investing in their workforce this will have a knock on effect to employment and taxes /NI raised from workers. Which in turn leads to less money in circulation. Which in turn hurts the High Street, small businesses and the economy in general. He also has ideas for taking back privatised companies into public/government ownership, which would be paid for out of our taxes. (I might add that I was and still am against the majority of utility privatisation)

For the first time in my voting life I have no idea who I would vote for. Both major parties are in turmoil. My local MP is fabulous on all levels, so,should I just go with that or the overall picture.

Jalima I agree with regard to inheritance tax. What we have earned and managed to save has been heavily taxed, and I do not see why my hard working AC should have to pay tax again (especially on their family home)

I hope that our house will never have to be sold for care costs and that it will one day be sold and that the inheritance shared between my DC to enable them to move to a larger house to suit their needs or indeed to purchase a house, perhaps for the first time.
I do not know why the Government should be entitled to take 40% of whatever wealth I have to leave to my DC when I have dutifully paid taxes all my life on all earnings, purchases, etc etc.

Jennifer, a lot of the schools that used to be direct grant grammars have become private schools, and are now completely out of reach unless you have the dosh to pay. How is it progress for those schools to be no longer accessible to low income families?

JenniferEccles the labour party believe in Comprehensive education, and Grammar schools do not do the things you claim.
There are ten times as many grammar schools in the most deprived areas than in the least. However, even where schools are located in deprived areas, they tend to take more pupils from the least deprived areas.
In 2013, a Sutton Trust study demonstrated that in selective local authorities, more prosperous students of the same prior attainment as students on free school meals are more likely to gain access to grammar schools. It also found that 12.7% entrance to grammar schools came from primary schools in the independent sector.
www.stoneking.co.uk/literature/e-bulletins/some-facts-about-grammar-schools