I admit I find the videos in this series amusing. And this one can almost directly be translated into UK experience. I should offer a language warning:
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Apt.
Strip out the accents, change to UK and it could be a vile-Liebore advert 2 – 3 years hence. The other commonality is the Murdoch-family influence.
It shows the malign influence (confluence?) of lying meeja and corporate interests.
In such circumstances, “democracy” is reduced to a rubber stamp, politicians to glove puppets and voters to the status of 14th century serfs (with no right of protest in the UK – how things don’t change – how it is always about the vested interests of corporates now/barons then).
Where’s Robin Hood when you need him the people are hood-winked!
This could almost be said of every social democratic party since the early 00s.
1. They complain that their ‘voters’ are not being realistic or/and are irrational when they decide not to go to the voting booths or vote for someone else.
2. When the party implements policy opposite to party core beliefs, they say that governments need to make compromises.
3. When the party loses an election they complain that the members have chosen unelectable candidates.
4. They say that they need to listen to the public rather than try to lead public debate.
To which one can only add the following slogan:-
“Why not Shift-Right to Shit-Lite when you can’t be arsed to think things through?”
Talking about not being arsed to think things through to be fair when a newspaper like the Guardian discontinues regular daily comments in its Business section it’s hardly conducive to an economically informed public who want to counter the Guardian’s “selective take” on economic matters is it? This is especially so when in it’s Opinion section it will open up comments on quite light-weight matters.
The Guardian is these days very good on hand wringing and very poor at analysis
For once the Guardian published a good analytical article on the water and sewage industry on Sunday, it recommends they be nationalised:-
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/02/the-guardian-view-on-private-water-companies-a-disaster-made-in-the-city
Interestingly it basically says Starmer is scared stiff of capital!
“Having taken all they can, investors have been trying to get the government to bail them out. Nationalising the industry would prevent the piggy bank being raided. This is a sensible solution, as assets that generate cash aren’t a drain on the public purse. But the Tories are ideologically against nationalisation. Labour doesn’t want to upset global capital.”
For a Labour Party to be scared of doing the right thing tells you exactly why you shouldn’t vote for Starmer’s party. “Shit-Lite”was a misnomer “Shit-Scared”more accurate!
I agree
A good editorial
The Guardian was – to coin a phrase – “scared shitless(!) when it’s own polling revealed at the height of Corbynism, that the majority of it’s regular readers supported Labour’s then policy positions.
Under it’s current editor it has become as much an apologist for the current political-economic shambles as the BBC and the rest of the MSM.
Is it any wonder that most of us now prefer to trust informed commentators such as Richard to help us make sense of this mad, mad world?
Funny but very apt.
‘Ozcom’ offers rather better political satire than we currently enjoy. Check out ‘Utopia’ and ‘The Hollowmen’ (think ‘W1A’ set in government infrastructure and policy departments, both produced by Working Dog Productions). A few years back Clarke and Dawe became very popular, their dry humour echoes the much missed John Bird and John Fortune. Here they are explaining how the financial system works https://youtu.be/M_3T-Af57Pg and banks https://youtu.be/DyaitC91hEM
There’s a lot in Australien (Australian) politics transferable here, not just Murdoch.
Reading the First Dog on the Moon is nearly always relatable, including the bird watching.
One person I’ve not seen for a couple of weeks who’s language is even worse, well a lot worse, is Jonathan Pie. I know you’ve passed some of his YouTube videos on before. However I’ve just heard him on “Call Jonathan Pie “.
It’s from January this year but it’s a complete series of him doing a James O’brien type call in show.
I’ve missed it until now because it’s on BBC Sounds. But yes on the actual BBC.
Like I said the language is in another league but some of his diatribes certainly get to the point.
Superb. Thanks for sharing. And the language actually makes it all the more accurate, because, let’s be honest, Labour (with a u) is clearly going to follow their Australian counterpart down this road – as already evidenced by their stinky policy proposals, which strongly suggest plenty of shit will follow.
Never forget with all Starmer’s broken pledges and U-turns if you don’t like his stinky Tory policy proposals he has others! And to think Labour used to be a pioneering party. Shit-Lite indeed now !!!
It’s very obvious in Australia that certain large corporations, often US fossil fuel ones, invest in both major parties, often pretty equally, for consistently favourable tax and subsidy treatment. After all, the Australian economy is what the Harvard Business School calls primitive – extractive, largely no-value-adding exports plus partly foreign-owned banks with an eye to continued major city real estate price rises. I don’t know if UK political donations are public and the degree of overlap between those going to Labour and the Tories.
Asutralia survicves by digging itself up in the middle and showing it over the edge towards someone else
As a member of Compass Richard, who is appalled and only slightly surprised by Neal’s possible expulsion from the labour party, this rings very true. I’ve been in Compass online meetings, and you’d be hard pressed to find a bunch of people who are as keen to get rid of the atrocious tory party and get a decent progressive party into power as Compass members.
It’s difficult to think of anything quite as stupid and ultimately self-defeating as this kind of behaviour from a political party. It’s labour’s accursed tribalism carried to new extremes, and also shows a degree of authoritarianism and contempt for the electorate equal to that of the tories. And in fact, contempt for their own membership; not even the tories do that!
Labour are , of course, relying on people’s desperation to get rid of the tories combined with the FPTP that labour refused to get rid of (and still wants to keep) to force people to vote for them. And their actions towards Neal show they won’t even contemplate a tactical voting campaign to help get past FPTP.
What an utter bunch of ***** labour are. What’s progressive about this increasingly unpleasant right wing party?
I presume Clive Lewis will be the next one to go. After they have got rid of Compass they will start on the Socialist Campaign Group.
https://equalitytrust.org.uk/weekly-poll
This is about Thames Water, if anyone wishes to fill it in.
The most bizarre thing about the current Shit-Lite Labour Party policies, is that the power behind Starmer’s throne are the Blairites who have already lost an unloseable election back in 2015 due to similar Shit-Lite policies! You’d think they might have learned something from that debacle (which led directly to Brexit, let’s not forget), but apparently not.
I’ve been telling my sister how shit Starmer is for months now and she’s now coming round to my way of thinking, seeing the seemingly endless number of policy U-turns. Bizarrely, my only hope now is that Starmer is so shit that he fails to win the next election outright, even against the most appallingly inept Tory Party in living memory, and the LibDems force some proper electoral reform as payback for propping him up into government.
The only problem with this plan, is that it relies on the LibDems in turn not being shit, and I have no faith whatsoever that they can manage this. What a bunch of political pygmies we’re faced with selecting from at present.
I’ve been arguing with someone who thinks Starmer is brilliant. He also blamed those in the North East for giving Johnson his 80 seat majority. I had to tell him that the North East doesn’t have 80 seats to give away, and that, despite information to the contrary, half of our MPs are still labour.
I asked where he got his information from, and he said the Guardian. No arguing with people who get their information from the Guardian, is there? I thought he must at least be a member of the party, he was so adamant that he knew the truth.
As a non-Corbynite socialist (he was too weak and conciliatory), you could see the attack on the centre (Compass etc) coming once the policing of debate started (with Evans declaring what was ‘competent business’ aka thoughtcrime). I quit the party at that point, with my local constituency being part of the old centre right machine that elected people like Akehurst (IMO a dangerous person for a democratic party to entertain) and Gurinder Singh Josan nationally, and held almost every position regionally. Starmer is ideologically ideal for such a configuration, i.e undemocratic and authoritarian.
People quite rightly calling for anti-Tory alliances have always been part of sensible centre-left politics, especially as the Tories veer further and further to the far right. To suspend or expel those active socialists and pragmatic centralists is lunacy, unless you are relying on the ‘not-a-Tory’ vote.
Lunacy is right. Compass has called an online meeting tonight to discuss this and see where it goes from here.
I wonder how what those members who are labour party members will be feeling?
A lot of them feel so bad about it that they are not going to knock on doors at the next election for the labour party.
They will if they are allowed to choose their own candidates, but not if the candidate is parachuted in from Keir Starmer.
On paper, this current Labour task must be the easiest opposition position ever. The tories have imploded and sent the country into economic freefall – it’s an absolute no-brainer.
– Reverse Brexit
– Bring in electoral reform
– Stick to your policy promises
I simply don’t trust Starmer – ‘better than the incumbent’ is just not good enough.
What policy promises? I’ve lost count of the promises he’s broken, starting with the promises he made when standing for election as Party leader. He’s more dishonest than Johnson.
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain. I remember being taught about it at Grammar School in the 1950s. Obviously, it seemed a matter of great pride. I remember too how the Luddites were treated as people to be laughed at. Lessons never delved into the pain and suffering the Revolution caused. Thousands were condemned to a life of semi starvation and many died before their time. As young people we were fed the line about new ways of working would create other types of work and so everything will work out fine . This has been the line followed by free marketeers since time immemorial. It is true in a way. Advances in technology over the years have created massive increases in living standards. Millions have been taken out of poverty. However, what is rarely discussed is the time it takes for those advances to become reality. Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century huge poverty was the experience of the industrial working class. In the decade before I was born millions suffered horrible destitution . Mass unemployment was also a feature of live for the working class during all of that period after the start of the Industrial Revolution. Today millions of workers are still trapped in poverty. The only period the country experienced full employment was in the three decades after WW2. Never before or since. Huge wealth has been created but poverty ,unemployment and huge inequalities remain . Enough riches have been created to completely eliminate poverty and grant every human being a comfortable ,secure life. The wealthy won’t allow it. Two hundred years ago we were ruled by a small number of fantastically rich folk. During that time the working class were treated as a race apart. The Attlee government changed that and for a brief period the lives of ordinary workers began to improve. MPs from modest backgrounds sat in the House of Commons. It is my belief that was the only time people like that took part in the democratic process. From 1979 property in the form of Thatcher set out to destroy labour. A plan was drawn up in 1977 by Nicholas Ridley setting out the process of hobbling organised labour starting with the miners. Unemployment has been a feature of life in the UK ever since. poverty has risen inexorably . Once again people are living in a state of semi starvation. Our ancient rites are being withdrawn at a frightening pace. When Nye Bevan forecast property (wealth) would destroy democracy he probably did’nt realise how right he was. Our very democracy is hanging by a thread. Alas, there is no help on the horizon from the Party I was a member of for 6 decades. Where that opposition will come from I have no idea. I haven’t long for this world but I hope for the sake of my children and grandchildren something wil come along. The work you and others like you are doing is so important. Keep doing it.
I will
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/04/u-turns-labour-keir-starmer-tuition-fees-income-tax
In the above article in the Grauniad this morning, they quote Starmer as saying: “I said [at the time] if we don’t win, all the things the candidates are pledging will not come to pass.”
It does appear as if these pledges will not come to pass whether Starmer wins or not.
No mention in that article of labour’s NHS policy u-turns. Surprised at that.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/04/most-doctors-think-ministers-want-to-destroy-nhs-bma-boss-says
No mention of labour in this article, either. It’s as if they do not expect changes under labour or they do not expect labour to win the next election. They expect the NHS to have disappeared in the next 5 years. That’s extremely worrying. I hope Guardian readers wake up to what’s happening now.
Finally the Guardian catches up with the readers of this blog about the obnoxious Starmer:-
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/03/the-guardian-view-on-labours-crackdown-on-free-thinkers-its-bad-for-the-party-and-politics
That was a good article in support of Neal Lawson
Richard, could not help but think of Jim Lahey when I started watching that
Language warning too but most apt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xer32BmkORk
Plenty of labour party members on last night’s Compass meeting with experience of being expelled from labour or threatened with it for belonging to groups not deemed compatible with the current party.
Neal is being threatened with expulsion for liking a tweet from 2021 from the LDs on how the LDs working with the Greens ensured the loss of Tory seats in Oxford council. in other words, the tweet was encouraging cooperation between progressives to oust Tories. That’s it. He didn’t support another party’s candidate, just the principle of progressive parties cooperating.
And for that, he’s being threatened with expulsion. Wretched.
Agreed
There would have to be changes in the Labour party constitution to enable that. They are bound by constitution to put a candidate in every constituency. On the other hand PR was passed at the last conference, and they ignore that. Starmer is in charge.
Did you watch McDonnell yesterday? He should be out next.