My eldest son has had to live with being a bit of a Harry Potter look alike over the last few years. At the age of 11 he had girls screaming in the street at him. I think he's come to terms with it.
I now find he has more in common with JK Rowling than I realised. Last weekend we were discussing politics and I asked him why it so appealed to him. His answer was explicit: politics, he suggested, was about having power to change things. I laughed and told him he should tell Jeremy Corbyn (who he has met) that.
J K Rowling clearly agrees with him: in a series of tweets she has made clear that a Labout leader of a fan club but not of a parliamentary party is of no benefit to those who need an effective opposition and a government in waiting in this country.
I agree with them both.
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Hi Richard So many now believe JC has good policies but not a leader, but who else is there for us to choose?
You know the answer to that right now
What do you think of the fact that there is the most horrible witchhunt going on in the Labour Party, which JC has condemned, but not a squeak out of Smith or anyone from the anti-Corbyn squad?
Is there a witch hunt
Or an application of the rules
I have not received a vote and am told to expect a letter from the Compliance Unit.
That’s absurd
But then, I would empathically have not been allowed to vote even if I had tried
Can I put up these wise words from the defunct black rock group Living Colour namely the lyrics of the song ‘Cult of Personality’ (1988) as a timely reminder of why policy in politics – and I mean good policy – is much more preferable to personality? And this applies to Corbyn now (he is not as radical as he makes out in my view) and I think and Owen Smith must consider it a warning shot across his bow too:
Look in my eyes, what do you see?
The cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I’ve been everything you want to be
I’m the cult of personality
Like Mussolini and Kennedy
I’m the cult of personality
The cult of personality
The cult of personality
Neon lights, a Nobel Prize
Then a mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You don’t have to follow me
Only you can set me free
I sell the things you need to be
I’m the smiling face on your T.V.
I’m the cult of personality
I exploit you still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
I’m the cult of personality
Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi
I’m the cult of personality
The cult of personality
The cult of personality
Neon lights a Nobel Prize
A leader speaks, that leader dies
You don’t have to follow me
Only you can set you free
BTW – those of a gentle disposition who may want to see this on Youtube – be warned that this is a really heavy hard rock track and not for the feint hearted!!
I will take a look
This is entirely circular. What’s the point of having power to change things if you don’t, in fact, change anything?
Ed won because he was not David. Corbyn won because Ed capitulated to the right and presented an austerity manifesto at an election that Labour should have won easily, had they not been too busy oozing contempt for their base whilst desperately appeasing an economically illiterate right-wing press.
Except you can be on the centre-left and still change things. I couldn’t imagine Mssrs Hague, Duncan-Smith, Howard, ever doing that.
And Ed wasn’t seen as being too far to the right. He was seen to be significantly left wing, and measurably further to the left than his party. YouGov ran a poll about it in August.
Oops – and here’s the final stanza:
You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You gave me power in your God’s name
I’m every person you need to be
I’m the cult of personality
Please don’t say Owen Smith.
Why not?
His comments on PFI, the NHS and abstaining on the Welfare Bill for a start. I’ve also had enough of smart-suited politicians in their forties, giving me promises of a better life for all, that anyone with any sense will know they won’t actually deliver. Tony Blair ruined that for me and a lot of other people and turned me off that kind of politics for good.
OK
Profile the alternative
Poorly-suited politicians in their sixties, giving me promises of a better life for all, that anyone with any sense will know they won’t actually deliver.
You don’t consider it rather patronising to dismiss Corbyn’s entire base of support as merely a ‘fan club’; as if whatever political views they have are just some dilettantish whim?
I am afraid I do see it as a fan club, and many will eventually agree
What it is not is a base for serious parliamentary opposition, and that is my deep concern
It appears that most do not want that
Unfortunately, the manner in which a large part of the PLP has been operating over the past year, I think you would struggle say that they are a base for serious parliamentary opposition either.
The leaks, briefings, (inept) plotting and so forth really don’t paint a pretty picture for the immediate future of the Labour Party in parliament. Too many shown to be completely untrustworthy.
There is a bit of, dare one say, a cult around Corbyn. Many have joined Labour specifically to support him. If he goes, then they will. I’ve heard and seen it many times over. We’ve seen throughout the leadership campaign that many Corbyn supporters are simply not interested in anything Smith says, while steadfastly refusing to accept their candidate has serious limitations. Anyone raising even mild criticisms of Corbyn attract knee jerk vitriol.
This leadership contest is not being conducted on a rational, objective basis with both candidates being fairly assessed. This reflects poorly on the party, as does the appalling flak Rowling has received for putting forward her viewpoint.
I despair for my party that we have lost the art of listening to all voices and giving weight to those we may disagree with.
I agree with this
The issue with Corbyn in my view is that although he has a sheen of courageousness about him, there is not much depth to it. That is why I think there is cult of personality thing going on here.
He might very well be very genuine face to face (and I’d like to meet him) but if his policies do not have the rigor needed to turn the tide of an indifference to those less fortunate than ourselves we are currently enduring, then what is the point of his leadership?
Corbyn’s cult of personality (CoP) will be in effect no different to the CoP that surrounded Margaret Hilda Thatcher – and still does. In each case, the CoP is blind to the failings of both, whist over-egging the mythology that surrounds their ‘achievements’.
Result – a distorted history that elevates the Leader whilst ignoring the harsh realities of the sort of society they presided over and ultimately enabled to exist.
I like Jeremy
But he’s not able to deliver
Richard
JK Rowling wrote her first novel while in receipt of benefits. Many would it as an irony she now supports a candidate for the Labour leadership who did not oppose cuts to the benefit system proposed by the Conservatives, but he also spoke against scrapping the Work Capability Assessment. She was also apparently a strong supporter of Jim Murphy, which arguably is nothing to be proud of. As the commentator above pointed out, that’s the point of having power to change things if you don’t, in fact, change anything?
She is trying to change things
Are you incapable of reading what she wrote?
I’m capable of reading what she wrote. JK Rowling is not not capable of seeing the policy differences between Corbyn and the right of the Labour Party, and apparently neither are you. Owen Smith is trying to present himself as the “soft-left” unity candidate, but a look into his background and voting record show that if he is posturing as left-wing now, he can’t possibly win over the Labour Party membership on a toxic and outdated centre-right Blairite platform.
I am sorry, but having spent time with Owen and Jeremy I will tell you who is the more left wing; it’s Owen
I think it’s very sad that when someone like Rowling puts her head above the parapet, she is lambasted as a billionaire unionist, red Tory or Blairite.
The level of discourse in the Labour Party is at such a low ebb, and I hope that it will very soon restore itself to that befitting one of the great political parties of the country.
I won’t hold my breath, though.
For once I agree with you
I quite like Jim Murphy so I don’t see why supporting him is something not to be proud of. Seems to me to be a serious politician who wanted to improve things ( I know they all say that ). Sad loss to the Labour Party due to its implosion in Scotland ( which is now terminal in my view ).
Jim was a neoliberal
Last time I saw him he was deeply unimpressive
But a decent chap none the less. Not sure what kind of parliamentarian you want if Jim fails ‘your’ test. And do t forget that the majority of the electorate don’t know what a neoliberal is. Me for one. But maybe that in your view makes me thick.
No
But it worries me
Don’t worry about me as I do understand and know what I would like to see. Perhaps not the same as you but valid none the less. If you want to win you need to appeal to the common man. And don’t forget that the common man and woman is smarter than you think. In the end we get the government we deserve and it sadly suits the least of us due to first past the post. And yet again Nicola Sturgeon drags up a referendum yet again I just see on the news. I really understand this as much as the Brexit vote . Anyway rant over , no one cares.
She’s also conveniently forgotten that Blair’s first major rebellion was over cuts to single parent benefits. In December 1997.
Something really very wrong with using her experience on benefits to campaign for a wing of the party that utterly failed people reliant on benefits; allowed the minimum wage to fall so low that tax credits became an automatic subsidy that shitty employers don’t even have to apply for let alone justify; allowed zero hours contracts to flourish; abolished the 10p tax rate; turned a blind eye to tax dodging; allowed whole streets to be abandoned in the north whilst failing to build down south; LHA; WCA; the sanctions regime.
I am sure she is sincere in her beliefs but she hasn’t cross-checked them with reality for quite some time. And she doesn’t need to. She can afford to be wrong.
I’m not sure what will happen if Jeremy wins but I for one will not renew my Labour party membership which is up for renewal. Its nothing to do with policy but Jeremy’s inability to lead. I know a number of other members who will do the same but have no idea how things will pan out Nationally.
What happens if/when Jeremy Corbyn re-wins the Labour Leadership Election – will the majority of the PLP keep hold of the ball they stopped playing with and take it home for good or will they accept the result and build a strong leadership team ie. will they represent the wishes of the majority of the membership for the party they represent. At what point is it not democracy ie. majority vote. I didn’t LIKE the result of the last election or Brexit result and I do respect the results and “get the communication” from those who voted leave and am/will work with it from there.
You are ignoring that those MPs were elected as MPs by people who had no idea that the party would now become the party it is
To whom do the MPs owe the greatest duty (and there is only one answer, and it is obvious)
People vote for the party rarely for the individual.
And they did not vote for this Labour Party
I’m sure you knew that I was referring to the Labour MPs who were elected. They would not have got elected as independents.
When accused on Twitter of “using your influence for the labour elite”, JK Rowling responded “I’ll use my influence whatever way I want. This country needs to be freed of fascists on both right and left”.
A tad extreme?
Not if you think Corbyn is promoting change by extra-parliamentary means and taking over a party to do so it isn’t
Hi Richard. Will you be consistent in breaking ties with corbyn by breaking ties with the unions who support him and have funded you? It would seem a bit mercenary of you not to? Hope you do.
I now have no union funding