If there was any chance that things might get better after the referendum it looks like all hope has been dashed.
The country voted for something it did not want. No one suggested what the alternative was.
It did so because the country has rejected the consequences of neoliberalism but without knowing what to put in its place.
Now the Prime Minister has gone because he knows the country does not want him.
The Conservatives are lining up to say they do not want Boris Johnson.
And just when Labour could be grabbing every advantage coming their way many seem adamant that they do not want Jeremy Corbyn.
There seems to be just one politician in the whole of the U.K. who knows what she wants, and Nicola Sturgeon may get it.
Everywhere else there is this ghastly feeling that we're looking into a void because no one has a vision and worse still will do anything to avoid finding one.
That's deeply worrying.
Right now we need clarity of thought
And there does not seem to be a lot of it around.
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I didn’t think my view of the PLP could fall any lower but this latest insanity is stunning. If they manage to oust Corbyn then Labour are dead to me, the Blairites are neo liberal and I just cannot support that.
This might turn out OK if Corbyn is able to hand over to John McDonnell, but not otherwise. The rank and file are solidly behind Corbyn, so the PLP cannot politically stop McDonnell standing.
The Blairite wing of the Labour is turning on Corbyn because he was unable to perform the miracle of turning the ship around in 9 months. Taking a rational, nuanced argument for Remain into Labour heartlands was a hopeless proposition, because the voters there had imbibed decades of anti-immigrant and anti-EU propaganda. The working class of earlier generations had a thirst for knowledge and were receptive to Labour politician and TU leaders etc presenting them with a vision of how they could improve their lot. Only once these voters realise that they have been conned will they be prepared to listen to Corbyn, or anyone else.
My thoughts precisely Malcolm. The anti EU vote in Labour heartlands has been brought about by a toxic combination of decades of increasing inequality, anti EU/immigrant rhetoric, and a spineless, complacent pro-EU establishment who did very little to promote the EU, and constantly kowtowed to the anti EU nonsense in our rotten press.
Add to that a Leave campaign that was utterly dishonest, indeed, sought to shout down anyone who actually knew the truth about the EU, and it’s not surprising Corbyn couldn’t stop the rot. Of course, now that the lies of Johnson, Farage et al are being revealed, what will these voters do now? I predict they will just get even more angry, xenophobic and irrational, and will opt for more and more anti foreigner, protectionist, xenophobic policies.
Which Ukip will be happy to supply. A combination of increasingly right wing social policies and left wing economic policies? National socialism.
The Brexit Elite ageda is to turn Rump UK into a Large Cayman Isles in the rain. A country dominated by the City becoming a global turdo money laundering centre, managing tax evation by the pluocrats.. Taxation for the common people based on VAT. In the Caymans the distict where the poor live is called Hell. So it goes.
Problem with Corbyn, as I see it.
He was elected last year backed mainly by younger Labour enthusiasts.
They were on the main for remaining in the EU.
Corbyn did not make the case for the EU as well as he could have.
He is not going to try to over-ride the referendum result, although he should. The result was based on the biggest mis-selling scandal ever. (If banks have to pay compensation for PPI, so should the the jokers who ran the Leave campaign.)
So unless he backs the EU membership (reflection the 63% view of Labour members), and gets the Tories out, now, when they are at their weakest, by calling for a General Election, there is really no point having him there.
There is absolutely no evidence I have seen that Corbynistas were all young
Like a lot of people I wanted an honest answer to the question of immigration but all the Remain campaign gave us was leaving the EU would be a disaster.So using my common sense I decided that being able to control who comes here rather than allow the free movement as occurs within the EU was preferable.As for vision again the Remain campaign had no vision whereas the Leave campaign did,decide our own laws and trade outside the EU.Today’s society seems more interested in sound bites and looking right than having a vision of the type of society we want or maybe the establishment just think we’re all idiots that can be forbed off.
And do you think we have won that power to make our own laws?
How?
The point I was trying to make was when all you’ve got to go on is a negative campaign from the Remain group then common sense tells you to look at what the other side are saying.I agree we may have no more power to make laws but at least we got the illusion which the Remain campaign never even offered us.Today I began reading your book the joy of tax and while it echoes some of the thoughts I’ve had about how money is created by the banks I still find it unbelievable this is how things really work.Maybe this is why politicians don’t put forward policies that would create a better society as it sounds more like magic than reality,people would begin to ask why can’t we have a better NHS for example.Or maybe politicians just like treating us like idiots as their play their silly games on us.
p.s. how would you avoid wasteful spending?
The ballot box prevents wasteful spending as far as that is possible
Mistakes happen in all aspects of human life
Why is money not talked about in the right ways? Because even the BoE only got this right two years ago
Good morning Richard.
I live in Scotland in a traditional labour stronghold that is now a majority SNP area. In the Scottish independence referendum I voted ‘Yes’ for independence. I work in a unionised factory, and I am a member of Unite.
I believe that a second independence referendum soon will have a result that’s 50/50 either way, not a guaranteed majority for ‘Yes’ as seems to be being put about in some places. I base this on the mood in my work and with friends, etc. There’s nothing scientific about it. I see many guys in work reading the S*n and Daily Express. I know no one else who reads your blog.
So Nicola Sturgeon may know what she wants but any new Yes campaign will have to communicate much better a vision of a positive future if they are to win over previous ‘No thanks’ voters. There is still too many people on both sides knowing what they do not want and nothing else.
For me the economics has to be better put. Ordinary people aren’t economists, though they are not stupid either. Not knowing which currency an independent Scotland would use was a huge stumbling block. Massive. People do not want to join the euro and become another Greece. Also over 60% of Scotland’s trade is with the U.K. Why jeopardise this is a statement that sticks with people.
I voted ‘Remain’ in the EU referendum, although I considered spoiling my paper. Many people I speak to still have reservations about Europe. This referendum was a choice between neoliberal EU and neoliberal UK. Seeing the xenophobia that’s come to the surface in some parts is sad and sickening. This however makes me realise that part of my voting for independence was for non-economic reasons. A hope that breaking from Westminster could allow Scotland to escape from the politics that feed such racism. A hope that we could build a society based on inclusiveness and improvement in quality of life for everyone. Plus hopefully it would shake up England and Wales to change their structures of government and bring to the fore similar changes there too.
This is another area that Nicola Sturgeon, and any ‘Yes coalition’ needs to work into any vision in a much more focused way if there is to be independence for Scotland.
It is clear from the referendum results and the continued support for the SNP in Scotland that independence is not an idea that has died. However, to win over ordinary people who previously voted ‘No thanks’, a clearer economic and social vision that goes further than previously and is better costed, is needed.
I enjoy your blogs immensely. I hope I can learn more from them.
Best wishes. G
I agree that clarity is needed
Currency is one issue
An economic policy another, not based on oil
Then things might change
But I accept the SNP cannot walk this
I am also sure they know it
Don’t expect a vote sson: a recession is a pre-requisite for success
“This referendum was a choice between neoliberal EU and neoliberal UK.”
The latter might be better than the former insofar as it is possible to amend the latter while the same cannot be said for the former.
Given the appalling behaviour of Hannan re free movement of labour post the referendum I wish for someone from Labour to seize the opportunity presented.
Isn’t the oil price edging back up? Presumably this would come into the SNP’s calculations.
I woukd say that this is a country where politics rewards lying.
Lying works: lying *wins*.
If you consider this ‘winning’.
Nile
Yes, but both lied. Leave lied better. When Remain were reduced to “David Beckham wants us to remain” I should’ve known the writing was on the wall. Leave were much better at it. Nigel got his dog whistle out & people who’s areas have been f***ed over by both Thatcher & Blair heard that. Remember 1930s Germany, it is quite difficult to explain global economics but its quite easy to point to the Jew or, in these cases, the Muslim or Pole & say “here is the problem. This is why you’re poor”.
Matthew Elliott tweeted a picture of a queue of smartly dressed people in a leafy London suburb ready to vote before work with the words “London will try to keep you in, don’t let them”. I imagine, London being London, that the queue was of people of all ethnicities. That kind of thing goes down well in Scunthorpe, Hartlepool, Barnsley etc.
So, where do we go from here? I’d like to think the majority of white people in this country are still not prejudiced but it would be silly to deny that a substantial minority are. I thought this went away after the 70s, but I was a fool. In the 80s I don’t think racism was beaten away by politics & big ideas but by the likes of West Ham’s ICF saying that the NF were mugs & that most white supremacists also lived with their mums & got their clothes from BHS. I hoped it’d gone away but no.
I honestly think this is a very sad time. Still, all things will pass, except, of course, Raheem Sterling who’ll never pass.