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I do care who for, but your choice is your own and I have nothing to do with it.
Please exercise this fundamental right.
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let’s hope the young and the ‘can’t-be’arsed’ come out in droves or we’re sunk
The vision of May and ‘Legal-and-General Phil’ waiving like royalty outside 10 Drowning (sic)Street fills me with utter revulsion.
From Bill Mitchell’s blog today apropos Australia but relevant to here and the likely next five years:
‘The policy environment is encouraging this increasingly unbalanced economy. The costs that will be borne when it finally all unwinds — and the recession being endured by many workers becomes generalised — will be enormous.
Write it down as another example of neo-liberalism where corporate greed gets ahead of itself and a compliant workforce gives up spending the pittance of income growth the elites allow to filter down.’
See: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=36161
In sixty years of voting the only candidate I have met who I felt I could really trust was Screaming Lord Sutch in the bar at The George in Huntingdon decades ago. He was interested in my thesis that in foreign policy world peace could be achieved if we reclaimed the 13 lost colonies of America..
I heard a woman claiming on BBCQT the other night that Scotland could not rely on 1707 to prove it had been a separate nation and still was in principle
I was tempted to ask her whether she also thought the US independence be repealed to solve the problem of Trump….
Good thinking. Interestingly, back around the late 17th Century, it was a William Paterson who was a founder of the Bank of England and then went to Edinburgh with a magic money tree scheme to found a colony at Darien. The Scots went bust, hence 1707. Did you know that Ms May has Scots Paterson ancestry?
On Progressive Pulse we have just uploaded a video on “The government spend and tax circuit” by our own Charles Adams. There is also a nice graphic. The video was recorded yesterday evening so bang up to date.
http://www.progressivepulse.org/uncategorized/the-government-spend-and-tax-circuit/
Comments as usual are very welcome
Whatever happens today, the future is for the young. And from what I hear from my 17 year old grandson, there is hope there. I was also amazed at his knowledge of British history, given that he’s a maths/physics wonk. I’m just so saddened that he will be loaded with debt and, with 4 other grandchildren, I don’t have the resources to help him much.
Nothing wrong with being a maths/physics wonk. Lets hope for the best today, but I am resigned to a 35-40 seat Tory majority.
Indeed-but as you know Sean, too many mathematicians and physicists go into financial services instead of research of real value:
‘Finance was the most popular industry among MIT graduates entering the labor market, with 8.4% of MIT graduates taking jobs in finance after graduation. That’s 25% more grads than went into computer and information technology, the most popular industry in the science and engineering category. Nearly a quarter of graduates entering finance had a science background, usually in engineering, math, or physics.’
Although the article goes on to say that those that went into finance weren’t the most accomplished in their field. (hbr.org/2015/12/no-the-best-science-students-arent-becoming-financiers)
Indeed I know a few who ended up in the City but the best in my personal experience end up in Education/Research or in the proper Engineering/Science industries but sadly not always in the UK.
The bit right now before all hope is finally crushed is kind of exciting, eh?
perhaps the best pro-Labour ad yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edt3d0xjEdU
Good!
Any thoughts ?
https://youtu.be/MyN8to9ohsU
What has this to do with voting?
A lot. Especially as we are headed up by a closet Remainer ( May) garbed in the disguise of a Leaver .
Thank goodness dear Jeremy is the obverse of that particular coin.
Makes for an interesting hung Parliament.
I have had the most delightful light-hearted day. It’s my birthday. I’ve voted and been to lunch in a michelin star restaurant nearby. I know how lucky this makes me and am full of gratitude. Whatever the outcome of this election I will continue to put my heart, mind and soul into doing my small part for a fairer world, no matter how this election turns out. That is all any of us can do. I feel alive. I feel privileged to live in a democracy. As you say Richard we can’t influence how others will vote today. Che sera sera. Let’s hope for a really high turn out.
Happy birthday!
And good food is in large part about appreciating the skills of others
I am in awe of what some chefs can do
I completely agree. I am caught between wanting to savour it and wanting to devour it! When faced with 5 or 6 ‘courses’ I always think I will be full to bursting, but when it’s really good food this is never the case. It is always so well balanced that you are perfectly satiated without feeling uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s sometime to do with the subtlety of flavour etc. Whatever it is -I prefer this kind of treat to any other. 😉
I am a little bit of a foody
I like the food of course
I like the skill
If the company is good it helps
And I can only afford it occasionally
Which makes it special
Hi Grace
Happy Birthday. I am a big fan of the Three Chimneys but I understand Skye now has two Michelin starred restaurants?
I have been on Mull and Iona last week and spent the weekend in Helensburgh with some dear SNP friends. Good rail link so saw a Mahler concert in Glasgow om Saturday night.
Indeed the way England is going, Scotland may be a good compromise as my English wife might find Ireland a bit too large of a jump.
Agree completely re turnout. Youth turnout will be key
Sorry folks, can’t join the sudden late stampede to Corbyn. Can’t see him as the Messiah. Labour are going to lose. (I’m writing this before the first result comes through, and I am confident that it is going to be a disaster for Labour). Labour are going to lose big time. This gives me no pleasure to say – I voted Labour in every election since Wilson won in 1964,and my Mum and Dad had voted Labour in 1935 and 1945. Labour is in my blood. I can’t vote Labour this election only because the constituency I live in is Buckingham, John Bercow’s seat where none of the three main parties will put up candidates. So I can only watch the train crash from the sidelines. I am attracted by the Labour manifesto – I fully support doing away with the nuclear “deterrent”, I want university to be free for all with no university fees, I support the whole kit and caboodle. But it has pained me to see the party elect a leader who from the start was totally unelectable, who had zero leadership qualities, who merely presented himself as NOT BLAIR and made us all feel guilty about the past, who spent most of his time attacking the Labour party rather than the government, who seems indifferent to say the least about the tsunami aproaching this island as a result of Brexit, the greatest crisis for the country since 1940, who dithers and mumbles at Prime Minister’s Question Time, who whimpers and whines at the bottom of railway carriages, who has utterly lost the support of the masses of traditional labour supporters in South Wales and the Midlands and North, and who has zero appeal to the electors in Scotland. Mrs May will win, with an increased majority, and she will win not because of her own merits and political savvy and ability, but in spite of all her manifest failings, and because of the utter muddleheadedness and incompetence of the vacuous Corbyn. After Foot was massacred by Thatcher, after Milliband was hung out to dry by Cameron, the party was wise enough to set out to find a new leader. Unfortunately, after Milliband, they got Corbyn. Unelectable Corbyn. Unelectable – as will be proven tonight. And the tragedy is that after the abysmal result comes in, it will not be Corbyn and his dodgy acolytes who will be blamed: it will be Labour itself,and Benn and Smith and Starmer and Cooper and Angel and Toynbee and Rawnsley and Marina Hyde and the Guardian and the Blairites and the BBC and Kuensberg and Paxman – and – and – and and anybody so long as it is not the gang of idiot culprits who are really responsible for the whole damn mess.
Good grief what an appalling rant -clearly some anger their. If you think the manifesto is good you should vote for it. As for incompetence:
1) Blair presided over one great housing bubble;
2) used tax credits rather than force companies to raise wages;
3) created a multi-billion money leakage scheme for the NHS known as PFI;
4)started an illegal war;
5)bowed down to kiss Murdoch;s posterior;
6)allowed private debt to build up until the system gave way in 2008;
7)Brown continued the ‘light touch’ regulation as the crash approached.’
8) and in 1997 said he would not let the housing market get out of control and undermine the economy.
If that’s competence then you have a funny notion of it.
‘the tsunami aproaching this island as a result of Brexit, ‘
The tsunami is in front of your eyes:
Increased child poverty
8% cuts to education
Unaffordable housing
Private debt over 1.5 Trillion
12 billion a year cuts to welfare that will create terrible stress to our vulnerable citizens.
Corbyn has ignited interest in politics for the young-nobody else has done that in recent years and you think that is still incompetence?
Right on brother Simon dude!
Mike is another one who must have choked over his cornflakes this morning!
I believe humble pie is quite tasty and nutritious!
“I do care who for, but your choice is your own and I have nothing to do with it.”
And you also cared for who during all those months you were backing the non-entity, Owen Smith, and undermining Corbyn instead of boosting him.
If it’s close and Corbyn loses, you’ll have to live with the fact that you made a significant contribution to that and the damage May’s regime will subsequently do us.
Do you realise I have never been a member of the Labour Party, as I have always made clear?
And I think you will for it very hard to find me endorsing any candidate in either election
To be fair to Rippon, Richard your dismissal of Corbyn was pretty strong at the time and you did, in one post put forward Starmer, Smith and Eagle as suggestions.
But you have generously posted a blog saying you underestimated Corbyn and clearly apologised magnanimously perhaps Rippon has not read that yet.
Simon,
I did indeed read Richard’s apology.
But, as I recall:
He only apologised for his error of judgement. He didn’t apologise for his contribution to the damage that has been done to our polity through the universal hostility (from the commentariat, e.g. Richard Murphy) to Corbyn.
To talk about your error of judgement (what goes through my head, then and now) is essentially a narcissistic statement – all about me, a face-saving exercise. To talk about your actions and their impact, though, is talking about the wider world, not just yourself, i.e. *not* narcissistic.
I remarked at the time that he doesn’t understand politics and the media; he only understands economics and should therefore restrict his comments to that. I remarked that he seemed unaware of analyses (e.g. Chomsky) that, in essence, say that, if something (‘Corbyn is crap’ – a chorus that Richard himself vigorously joined) is broadcast loudly enough, not only can you convince people (e.g. Richard) of it, but you can even *make* it true because the target of the abuse can become so subsumed with fighting his corner that there’s little time/energy left over to work *productively* (e.g. formulating policy, campaigning).
Corbyn’s detractors and fair-weather friends, e.g. the commentator Owen Jones, are guilty of political cowardice: when they saw the range and power of forces reined against Corbyn-McDonnell, they lost sight of their principles (if they really had any) for fear of being part of the ridiculed, ostracised group (Corbyn, McDonnell, Abbott, Milne, et al).
If you really think the left can win by alienating most on the left then you are deeply deluded and deliver a sharp black cloud on my weather map
If most Corbynistas think as you did then this moment will not last
Sure I criticised. And I make no apology. Corbyn was chaotic. And the referndum campaign was dire. But unlike you Corbyn seems to have been big enough to listen and act
And as for saying I may not comment on politics – very olitely, whoever you might be I have no taste for your totalitarianism attempt to close down free speech
If Labour is to win – and I have always been unambiguous that I want it to – then it’s leadership has to make clear that your thinking has no part of it
I made a sincer apology
Wise people accept such statements
I think Jeremy wise
You should follow your leader
“Corbyn seems to have been big enough to listen and act”
This is a familiar line from Corbyn’s fair-weather supporters (Owen Jones is particularly guilty of this, as is TheGuardian as a whole): that Corbyn has changed/improved in response to their criticisms. A line that attempts to snatch respectability from humiliation.
Nope, Corbyn remained the same, *consistent*, in his leadership, and in fact over the last forty years.
What *did* change was the world outside the Corbyn-McDonnell team. For example, when election coverage rules kicked in, forcing the media to give Corbyn a fairer (less unfair) hearing, his ratings automatically shot up.
Corbyn’s ‘improved performance’ had nothing to do with the sage advice of his fair-weather supporters.
“And as for saying I may not comment on politics … ”
That’s a convenient distortion of my argument.
My argument is that ‘sorry my opinion was wrong’ is an easy thing to say. It would be infinitely more meaningful to say ‘sorry for the damage I have caused’.
The damage is: Labour could have won far more seats and vote-share (possibly even a majority) if people had listened to *Corbyn and Momentum* (instead of smearing them) from the *start*, instead of listening to the choristers who were singing from the same hymn sheet as TheGuardian.
Like you, I too think Jeremy is wise and I too think you (like me) should listen to him. The difference is that I think you and I should have been listening to him from the *start*, and through all the storms (e.g. the MPs’ chicken-coup, an ugly gang of bullies whose ‘Get Jeremy!’ chant you wholeheartedly joined), not just now, when the storms have passed and the weather is fair.
Many people on the liberal left, e.g. Owen Jones, Richard Murphy, are very knowledgeable and make excellent contributions to the debate.
But there are compromising qualities at play. One such with Jones is that his public profile (and the attention he receives) and his high-status (‘Guardian columnist’) are so precious to him that he doesn’t dare stray too far from TheGuardian fold; he wouldn’t dare support Corbyn too much for fear of being tainted by his colleagues with the label ‘Corbynista’. He only ‘supported’ Corbyn enough to preserve his brand – ‘radical leftie’, by *Guardian* standards.
I think the compromising quality with Richard Murphy was his lack of insight into how the media and politics work; not understanding that Corbyn was bound to be ‘useless’ because the system would not allow otherwise. (But *if* he could survive the onslaught, then he would emerge stronger than all around him, who are now all trying to find a way to save face.)
Mike, it’s absurd that you can’t vote. Our electoral & pariamentary system is not fit for purpose and needs re-creating from scratch to meet the democratic demands of the 21st century. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen until the Tories are side-lined from power.
I pretty much agree with your above comments and about Corbyn. While not a suppoter of the Labour Party, I would’ve voted for it tactically if there was any chance of unseating the incumbent Tory. I’m on record as saying he’s not leadership material and that the election will not be won by the Tories but lost by Labour. In spite of the closing of the polls and more favourable comments about him, I stick by my judgement. With all the talent that must exist within the ranks of the LP you’d have thought they could have overcome their internecine conflicts for once (and for the nation) in order to elect someone with wider appeal who at least stood a chance against the ruthless Conservative Party machine.
I’ve little confidence that after the election lessons will have been learned. The Tories close ranks when strategically necessary and then carry out whatever surgery is necessary in time to fight the next election. Anyhow, let’s see what evolves over the next 5 years, which are likely to be tumultuous for the government. Labour has got to get its act together big time. Having missed one open goal they can’t afford to miss the next one. Being a front bench MP requires more qualities than leading a protest group – however worthy the latter is.
For the first time that I can remember I won’t be sitting up listening to the results come in.
Sorry Mike. You are a mistaken. Just admit you are a Tory who does not give a single thought to the welfare of the 99%. Don’t use the lame excuse that you don’t like Corbyn.Man up.
Richard, what do you make of this. Came out today.
“The Eurostat figures showed every nation in the 28-member bloc reported first-quarter GDP figures growing faster than the UK. The strongest expansion was in Romania at 1.7%, followed by Latvia at 1.6% and Slovenia at 1.5%. The closest countries to the UK’s weak pace of growth were France and Greece, with GDP growing 0.4% in both.”
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8057546/2-08062017-AP-EN.pdf/8321df8a-ba1b-433e-9cdc-bfd81e3f4a45
Is this due to the uncertainty over brexit or due to austerity.
Both, I suspect
Grim
Latvia had it’s economy gutted by austerity and a huge swathe of its population emigrated (20% I think)-gutting an economy first and then saying there’s growth is quite an easy thing to do.
‘Emigration, which increased steeply after Latvia’s accession to the European Union and during the crisis years, accounts for two-thirds of the figure. Latvia has lost 238,000 residents due to emigration from 2000 to 2014.’ http://www.leta.lv/eng/home/important/53625AE6-69FD-4128-AA61-56703DE4E5E6/
‘
Exit Poll: Labour 266; Tory 314 – if this resembles reality May is finito and a superb achievement for Corbyn! Big stake driven through the heart of neo-liberalism.
Still a long way to go, Richard, but I assume May is already drafting her resignation letter. If she isn’t she’s finished anyway.
Having been with you on this blog since before 2010 and having to live with the disappointment of that year and 2015 I think that whatever the final outcome those of us who, like you, have kept faith with the value of progressive ideas if only we could get them heard above the neoliberal din of the mainsteam media will have been entirely vindicated.
Power to the people – and particulary the young (at last)!!
🙂
I agree
And yet, even given the importance of this election, turnout was only about 68.2%!!!
Time to make voting compulsory, even at the cost of having a “None of the Above” box on the ballot. Besides, people could – indeed can – always “vote” by spoiling their ballot, which, if backed up by legislation to demand a full breakdown of reasons for spoiling a ballot, so the number of NOTA’s could be recorded – sobering stuff for would be “electoral dictators”.
I agree with that
Agree entirely, Andrew. When I headed for bed at 3am I assumed the turnout had breached 70% so was taken aback to see this morning that it remained under – and for such an important election. If or when the Tories come back with their voter registration plans we can expect it to drop even lower than that – witness the US.