absthame makes many good points.
If there was a ‘normal’ Labour Party Leader ( and those close to him ) they would have got into power at the last GE easily.
With him in place, they could just as easily lose the next one.
If you can’t see this, there is no hope for you.
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This Country has gone too far to the right
(118 Posts)Not just politics but the the newspapers we read also add to it with mainly a right wing bias. For example in Norway there is a high-degree of media ownership fragmentation, they are sometimes owned by not-for-profit foundations and all receive state subsidies based on circulation, which in turn ensures a modicum of objectivity and plurality of opinion. Their British counterparts are often highly partisan and espouse a largely right-wing editorial agenda. In contrast, British media ownership is highly concentrated: 70% of national newspapers are owned by just three companies and a third are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK.
It is probably not without reason that a recent report by the European Broadcasting Union found that the United Kingdom among all of the EU member-states (+Albania, FYROM & Turkey) scores the lowest in levels of trust in written media.
Conservatism was doing OK One Nation Conservatism as it was called. Until Thatcher with New Right neoliberalism which has got progressively and steadily worse putting the wealth into already 1% rich hands and forgetting everyone else. Public services now gone to pot with tax cuts to big corporations who should be paying their fair share instead, money into public services.
Now the Nordic countries are doing good they have social-democratic Labour polices
And this is not only the case in Norway, but has been integral to the social-democratic post-war consensus in all the Nordic countries. Judging by almost any measure of social indicators these policies have been a success, the Nordic region enjoys some of the world’s highest living standards and presumably should be a model to be emulated rather than avoided. Obviously the Nordic region is no earthly paradise and there are cultural, economic and historical differences between the UK and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, but if there is such a thing as a ‘best practice approach’ in public policy the Nordic model would probably be it and, at any measure, a useful benchmark for Britain to move towards.
So remember that neoliberalism is failed economics an ideology, austerity is not needed. All parties who follow this failed economic neoliberal model are moving in the wrong direction and is not good for the whole of this country.
This explains things a lot.
www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/jeremy-corbyn-mainstream-scandinavian-social-democrat/
absthame Corbyn was elected by the party membership with a huge majority so either all of the Labour party members are being conned by a mastermind or they are all closet Marxist/Stalinists, or perhaps they have simply listened to someone who has spoken the truth for a long time. As for this "Oh I would vote for them , but I don't like him" it is a similar statement as that made by many as an excuse for voting for right wing policies. It's a way of dodging the responsibility for the present terrible conditions we see around us.
Corbyn may step down at some time in the future. I saw a statement about him recently which said if he is no longer the leader he will simply step back to be a hard working MP. And that is exactly the reason he should be PM because he hasn't sought power, he isn't doing it for some personal agrandissement, he isn't someone groomed for power and stardom, he is simply someone who believes in the party he represents and that people deserve a better country to live in.
Oh sorry? I forgot to bung it at the end.
Article by Andy Beckett.
05/10 Guardian.
Could you give us some indication of where that article comes from please, WwMk2?
Good article this morning asking about why the hard right has come out in force in the U.K.
I’ll dip in and out to give a flavour.
The BBC banned fascist rhetoric from its broadcasts with the support from all the political parties for years after Mosley.
The rationale being that Mosley’s rhetoric was too extreme, and his supporters too threatening. The ban lasted for 33 years until 1968.
A line was drawn and accepted by almost everyone, about what was or was not acceptable in right wing politics.
It is now impossible to imagine that happening today.
The line between mainstream conservatism and right wing extremism is becoming blurred, with the BBC apparently reluctant to describe Trump as a fascist and Farage , despite never having been elected as an MP constantly appearing on QT.
Tommy Robinson has been interviewed, giving legitimacy to his views.
Meanwhile Johnson and his boot-boys have adopted much of the phraseology and demagoguery or the far right.
The origins of this lie cutting a much calmer more complacent period of British politics. Fascism had faded to almost nothing.
The talk was now of Islamic radicalism and the hard left.
The was no talk of the hard right.
But their eye was firmly off the ball, and our politicians were paying little or no attention to the fascist movements growing throughout Europe.
We didn’t “do” fascism,
nothing to see here.
But both Blair and Cameron began to use the far right rhetoric in their speeches.
Phrases like “bogus asylum seekers” and other such rhetoric meant that this was taken and believed by the electorate without anything based on fact.
The BNP slowly but surely began to gain seats at a local level. In 2009 Griffiths appeared on QT to outraged reaction. But to watch him with his crude arguments and an audience who trashed his claims showed then that right wing populism was marginalised and unpopular.
We live in a different country now.
Pandora’s box has been opened and to marginalise this extreme form of populist demagoguery will not be easy.
Even if Brexit finally damages their nationalism, they will find other grievances to grow their movement.
Non-EU immigration will be the next thing, along with multiculturalism that comes with it.
We must stop giving them a platform that they use to spread their hate.
PS LUNATICS not LUNITICS Dyslexia kicking in with tiredness 
MazieD You seem to not to read what others write, only what you assume that they would write. YES I AM WORRIED ABOUT THE LUNITICS GOVERNING OUR COUNTRY (Sorry to others for shouting.)
However if the Corbyn Clique put the nations interest before their own, we would be shot of the tories, but they will not do so. In which case they are responsible for the wrath that will befall our people just as much as Johnson, Grove, Farage and the rest.
Not bothered about dear old Boris and his mates then? The ones who are actually doing their best to destroy our institutions and remake them to their liking? The ones who are bent on campaigning on a People v Parliament ticket at the next election?
Words almost fail me...
PS I don't ignore it, I have commented many times on other threads. However Corbyn, McDonnell and that merry crew are facilitating Johnson, Farage and their extreme right wing nuts by refusing to step back and nominate someone outside their clique, who would be acceptable to the most intransigent of the opposition groups and rebels, to act as a short term PM to facilitate the removal of the present government.
I am not in a position to force the LP to act in the national interest by making such arrangements. As it is the opportunity is being lost. Why if they really cared about the country do that bunch not step back and stop acting in the interest of this Tory government.
MazieD Most dictators that acheived their objectives for a period, appealed to most by appearing benign and very personable. In fact both Hitler and Stalin have often been described in such a way at the same time they planned the murder of millions. I do not suggest that LP veg leader would act quite so grossly, but that has also been said of most dictators. Why the heck should we or the LP take such a risk?
Are you ignoring my point, absthame?
It's all very well to talk about the possibility of a left wing revolution but why ignore the one that's being attempted right now by the right wing?
trisher are the policies announced generally considered that left wing? I don't think that nor do most that I come across. What they do think however is that Corbyn/McDonnell and their cronies should not under any circumstance be allowed to form the government. They equally do want the LP to be in a position to form such a government.
Based upon their reaction and the reaction on the doorstep, get rid of the current numpty leadership and the LP could romp home ............................ but not if we keep p**sing about as we are at the moment.
I rather think that incitement to revolution is coming from the right at the moment. It's the right that is egging the gullible on to hate our parliamentary democracy and the Rule of Law. They'll be ripe for storming the Bastille and the Winter Palace if this goes on for much longer.
Corbyn seems positively benign in comparison with what the right has to offer.
Trisher I don't take issue with the LP's policy anouncements, it is the intent of the Corbyn clique that concerns me and most in the nation. Get rid of the Corbyn/ McDonnell and those who surround them and the LP would walk the next election, with them we will be like lambs being led to slaughter. Get rid of them and we can eject Johnson and his right-wing lunatics and resolve Brexit within days.
I have not forgiven my fellow left-wingers for the rise of Thatcher and all the hell she wrought. The left need to eject the anti-democratic forces from the LP and be more evolutionary in their approach to policy progams ............. remember revolutions produce nothing but bloodshed and corrupt dictators.
Fennel: Quote: I've always admired the Nordic countries for their social care systems etc.
BUT they all have very small populations , compared with ours. eg Norway 5,5 million in 2019.
UK nearly 68 million in 2019.
You can't compare apples with oranges. End quote
I don't believe it's only a matter of population. Yes, the Nordic countries have small populations but that also means they have smaller GDPs. I feel that the Scandinavians have a different mindset. They have a strong sense of teamwork and inclusiveness. They have the lowest income inequality in the world. It was Magaret Thatcher, I think, who said that the wealth created at the top would trickle down to the poorest in society. Is that what we see in this country? Obscene sums of money are paid to some people and we should ask ourselves how it can be justified.
The Scandinavians are not more intelligent, clever etc than the Brits but I think they are more ambitious when it comes to giving everybody a decent standard of living.
why have policies which were once considered fairly central left wing ideas suddenly become labelled as "Far left"?
Overton Window, trisher
I think of politics as a large circle with a little gap at the top. The far left and right are either side of it - and remarkably similar. At the bottom we have the middle grounders but most folk are on the sides.
I think most of us understand those points gallusquine the question is why have policies which were once considered fairly central left wing ideas suddenly become labelled as "Far left"? The bias of media seems a plausible reason. The labelling of Corbyn as an unpatriotic Marxist has been fairly universal. That and the perpetual allegations that most people claiming benefits are simply "scroungers" seems to be featured in papers regularly.
The Far Right and the Far Left are equally dangerous to us as "citizens". The FAR anything cant be desirable but do they both exist in equal measure and are they very different from each other ?
Nazi Germany, our nearest historical reference point of a Far Right regime and Stalins UDSSR our far left example.
Common Traits
Vert strict rule set which may turn against you at any time.
A very inhumane attitude against people and life in general.
Very aggressive foreign policies.
Legal opposition not tolerated.
You may work as hard as you like but if the regime wants to shaft you it will.
Corrupt.
It's all getting a bit McCarthy-ish isn't it? Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
Good post Grany but you will never convince the Daily Mail reading, Conservative voting club on here. I agree that the rot first set in with Thatcher.
Not a murmur about the Russian connections of such rightwingers as Aaron Banks and Cummings?
trisher, anything is possible; literally anything and nothing should be dismissed without all of the evidence, literally nothing 

What do you imagine absthame? Some sort of Mancurian candidate? I would imagine he wanted to see how communism was working.
Trish Don't be so condescending, yes I know the difference.
Can you explain why Corbyn spent so much time behind the iron curtain in the 60s and 70s, accepting invitations from various organisations most of whom were known to be fronts for the STASI and KGB as we were warned of by both the LP and the TUC and that they were intent on recruiting to their cause ..........but Corbyn and co knew better so returned, or maybe they didn't know better!
Maybe he wa
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