Yesterday's poll on Farage here was interesting. This is the result so far:
Despite the bias likely to be present in the readership of this blog, 89% of you seem to think Farage has the capacity to win an election in the UK.
It would seem, therefore, that you believe that his total bullshit (there is no other term for it) is potentially capable of conning sufficient people into supporting his programme of what will inevitably amount to exploitation, because that is what fascists always deliver.
There is, then, much to do.
What else can I say?
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“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring.)
Seems like you have decided. Thank goodness for that!
I fear that Bull Shite baffles brains. It would appear that he is taking a tip from trump and saying something and next indicating that he di not. All the flags are not going to sort out the problems. Nor is a guy with a worth of 3.2 million. However, it require all those who did not vote at the last election to vote against farage. There are enough Boomers still alive who could make iy happen. Postal voting is available too.
Keep up the good work and is there is a bias to your readership i consider truth and alternative views healthy and democratic.
For me it is Bad Boys of BREXIT 2?
Farage and his coterie – I imagine a certain Mr Banks is in there somewhere – are chancers, speculators, speculating in our democracy, hoping for a bite on the hook. It does not matter if they win or lose – they are just ‘dabbling’ in the market, having a flutter, as if at the races.
As I said in a previous post, if the British people cannot put two and two together thinking about the long queues at Dover, price inflation and other negative effects from BREXIT – all a product from the same group of people, then we can safely say that we can stick a fork in their arses – they are truly done.
My main concern is since 2010, the British people have been filled with too much hate or had their innate racism activated to see what is really making them poor.
The prognosis is not good.
It appears that the genius adviser and one term Kier have decided that governing for the benefit of the majority of the UK is not something that Labour does anymore.
Add to this the unquestioning rising tide of media support for the Farage bullshit ,there is every chance that the English public are likely to vote far right in 2029.
The UK is sleep walking into political chaos.
Good article here by Clive Lewis.
https://subscribe.bylinetimes.com/edition/77/clive-lewis-mp-i-never-thought-id-hear-myself-say-i-think-my-party-is-making-this-country-weaker-in-preparation-for-an-authoritarian-right-government/
I agree with Clive.
I fear that the real problem with Farage isn’t just the bullshit he spouts it’s the oxygen of publicity that our media constantly gives him.
There are 3 years to prepare the ground – then 6 months – campaign.
Straightforward, simple messages/narratives. Focus on what is important to citizens (the blog has had endless such lists) and keep repeating ad nauseum.
Corbyn has a weakness: he focuses on the insubstantial: “fairness, justice………..” – all worthy.
But – what about: food prices, schools fit for purpose, fair energy prices on and on and on – concrete stuff – &… when asked “so ‘ow yer going to pay fer it” (the usual response by journos) ………response: “are you are against fair energy prices? and good schools?” answer questions with questions – as Ray-gun once memorably said: “once you are explaining you are losing” ……..don’t explain – outline sunlit uplands – just like fart-rage does. Don’t get into complex explanations – citizens will lose the thread and the media-scum will use tropes to undermine the story.
Perhaps you need to follow Corbyn a bit more.
Last night at a meeting for Your Party in Harrow
“Jeremy Corbyn highlighted that while Your Party is not yet registered, groups like Arise in Harrow and LCI Enfield are all travelling in the same direction – building from the grassroots up.
He also set out national priorities: tackling inequality, child poverty and insecure work; protecting public services; and campaigning for peace, disarmament, and justice for Palestine.
Corbyn ended with a call for unity, saying: ‘Our movement, our party, our organisation will bring people together… Unity is what we need, and unity is what will win.’ ”
Didn’t sound insubstantial to me, or to his audience.
Those are not nearly specific enough, IMO
I agree with Richard. Corbyn’s list has no resonance or meaning to ordinary people – what follows is in no order of priority:
1. A water & sewage system fit for purpose and government owned such that rivers are not regularly filled with sewage.
2. Electricity & gas priced fairly & at the real cost of production & with a gov owned electricity retailer to compete with “the market”.
3. A rennovation programme for homes that delivers warmth & comfort for all
4. An NHS free at the point of use & funded such that it is fit to meet the health needs of the country.
5. A rail transport system that is failry priced for passengers and reliable
6. A road transport system that does not make driving like a dogems track (= potholes)
7. Schools restormed to local gov control and funded such that any & all get an eduction worthy of the name
etc.
The list must be concrete & understandble. I think this one is.
Noted
I might work on this idea
Corbyn is also working with Majority in the north east, with Jamie Driscoll.
https://www.facebook.com/JamieDriscollNE
They have a book out called Act Now, with Kate Pickett and Danny Dorling, amongst others.
Who do you support?
Who is your question aimed at?
In response to JenW:
I support any political party that is able to take the list, prioritise as they see fit and says – this, reformatted and perhaps re-expressed, is our manifesto.
Concrete actions promised by politicians that will positively change the lives of UK citizens.
Is this so vary hard to express? it it hard for politicos to understand?
Seems pretty easy from where I’m standing.
But when Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party, he did have a substantive list that related to everything you listed in your reply at 1:01pm today. And he did very well from it. But those ideas were a fully specified manifesto from an established party. No need to expect all of that just from some speech to sympathetic activists at the moment.
I think it is important to remember that several different things need doing by different people in different contexts, in different places, and with different timescales
An “ideas” battle, to prepare party manifestos and coalition platforms.
Timing – for GE2029 Campaign. Everyone!
A destructive ruthless campaign to refute
/discredit Reform UK Ltd, and its leadership, based on their lies, incompetence and corruption, especially in local government.
Timing – esp between now & May 2026 local elections & Welsh/Scottish elections. Everyone, wherever we are, omnibus, trade union, street corner, family get together, college campus, workplace, country club, internet, banquering hall, pub or parliament.
The business of forming alliances, often locally, to prioritise the goals of co-operation on a very small, very specific, list of foundational changes in how we are governed, while putting aside other differences on important but less urgent matters.:
– The vote (PR)
– The money (MMT) – and such urgent measures as are agreed once the Treasury neoliberal status quo has been overturned and money can be spent asap into underperforming areas of the economy (esp urgent poverty reduction measures and key public services)
– The climate
– War Crimes
Timing – again, the end date is to gain power by 2029GE for an agreed length of parliament to achieve those minimum goals, then another GE fought under PR.
Alongside all this and mixed up in it, Your Party has to have the chance to get going. It has >800,000 signups, no policies, no name, no leader, no constitution, and no local infrastructure. It has to start somewhere. I hope it will prioritise local branch formation (mailing lists are key here, GDPR, ICO) so grass roots can organise for the inaugural hybrid conference. At the moment everyone BUT YP is trying to arrange or capture local activists/branches but this could cause factional rivalries – please, not more factionalism.
Timing – I think YP has to aim only at 2029, it can’t organise for May 2026, there isn’t time.
This is messy. So is politics and economics right now. We have to give each other room and not get precious about our pet projects. YourParty will not save us, it is part of a bigger, quite do-able project to Make UK Good Again.
I want my country back from v rich who own & control it. I want government to help make our lives better, not increase inequality and injustice.
Thanks
Richard, Mike P
Watched Corbyn being interviewed on YouTube by little Owen Jones yesterday. The image of a kind, gentle old man comes through when talking about the new party. Over 600,000 have joined or expressed interest in joining. I wish them well.
I agree his concerns are not specific or perhaps not concrete enough.
Mike your 7 specifics I like but I would go for ie major on:
1. Reducing taxes for the many. People need income now.
2. Improving Child Care extending coverage and cutting costs by 50% plus
3. Introducing Rent/Mortgage controls
Noted
But ‘little’ Owen Jones? He’s almost 40, I think.
Clearly the people of the UK are easily gas-lit by fascists of both the hard and soft variety. First there was the support for the hard-fascism of the British colonialist empire now there’s misplaced loyalty to the soft-fascism of market capitalism which has resulted in another form of global colonialism the export of jobs from countries like the UK and United States to countries that better collude with the goals of soft-fascist capitalists by suppressing demand and needs in their own countries to gain global price point (China and Germany, for example). See Klein and Petit “Trade Wars are Class Wars.”
Clearly there needs to be more education in the UK about soft-fascist gas-lighting driven by amoral market capitalism. This has to include democratising the main stream media which is responsible for much of this gas-lighting with one-sided reporting. The endless pushing of mumbo-jumbo or incoherent money mechanics is very obviously a case in point.
Good morning Richard,
One of the very best commentators on the rise of the right can be found at Matt Carr’s infernal Machine mattcarr@substack.com. I recommend his post titled ‘OLD POST: Sympathy for the Plebs’. There’s far to much lazy commentary, poor journalism and counter productive name calling which gives brief satisfaction to the ‘left’ but only serves to divide us and feeds the right wing and their entrenched believe system.
Thanks
Mr Parr, excellent programme.
Whilst individuals are prepared to take a stand, blogs are also very important. The US has shown unless the main stream media is prepared to “back you” it’s the wilderness for you.
All I can think of is a massive crowd fund effort to produce a weekly ad campaign, like Led by Donkeys, hammering the alternative message home.
Where are the sensible alternatives to Tufton Street willing to produce a non right wing project 2029 for the UK?
Homes for Heroes 1918 onwards stopped unrest.
National socialism understood the importance of addressing want.
Post WW2 understood the importance of stopping fascism by giving people security and dignity through an affordable secure home.
Back then they understood how important a home was to ordinary people’s resilience.
Fascism grows when people feel extruded, robbed of status and dignity. It grows when there is want.
Arguably, even Thatcherites understood the importance of a home to their electoral success , but obviously had a different intention and outcome. (By selling off social housing to advantage one group, without replacing these social homes, they created a time bomb of want).
The decimation of affordable, decent homes is IMH perhaps the most important catalyst for the growth of fascism because the lack of a home creates a loss of status and spiralling insecurity.
It won’t advantage Farage to repair this problem. Inequality and want is fascism’s friend. It seems Labour are aiding fascism by ignoring the evidence of history, with their glacial progress on homes.
It seems if we want to stop fascism history shows one solution is practical, we need a housing model that meets need, and restores people’s security and dignity.
We were poorer after WW2 but managed it seems Labour are blind to this fact.
“the lack of a home creates a loss of status and spiralling insecurity.”
May I suggest it does one hell of a lot more than that. It destroys people. If you lose your home you usually lose most, if not all of your possessions. Your clothes, your photos, the things loved ones gave you, your pets, often your family. You may well have lost your job as a result and will have little or less chance of getting another one. Getting another home can take years, during which time you are in a state of fear. Then, if you do get another home it takes years to have those things, the lack of which make life so hard.
I realise that much of what I am talking about are physical possessions, which should not matter. But try eating a healthy diet without a pot to cook in. Or buying food without a fridge to stop it going off.
Losing status is the least of it!
Thank you.
You describe the spiralling insecurity so well. I absolutely agree a secure home is fundamental.
The loss of perceived status is key driver of fascism, it explains the cruelty aspect, a need to see other groups hurt and reduced.
It means you are talking to realists.
It means you are talking to people with their eyes open.
It means we are not complacent.
And it means there is hope.
Fa***e is organisationally incompetent and so are most of his MPs, & councillors and unfortunately for them, they have 12 councils to run, and May is only 8 months away. Its not looking good for the teenage Reformers running huge council budgets.
Secondly, Fa***e and his army of nasty bumbling lying fascist incompetents are making strategic mistakes. They have decided to alienate (and possibly thereby rejuvenate) the local press network run by “Reach”, by refusing co-operation with the local press in Nottingham, including BBC funded local journalists (as you mention elsewhere today)
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/reform-uks-dangerous-nottinghamshire-live-10457126
– and…
Thirdly, instead of saving their nasty fascist plan to repeal the British HRA till AFTER the general election, they have unveiled it NOW alongside their anti-ECHR policy.
So, the discussion can be shifted, as you have ALSO done today, from “that nasty interfering foreign EUROPEAN court, the ECHR”, to the human rights themselves – which are much easier to discuss on the omnibus. I’m looking forward to some “Did you hear that Fa***e wants to take away your right to…” discussions.
You hit quite a lot of nails on the head today with your choice of topics. Grim but also encouraging.
“HANDS OFF OUR HUMAN RIGHTS!”
It feels like there are 2 tasks, ahead, to avert fascism… and make our country a better place.
1. Ruthlessly, destroy the credibility and reputation of the dangerous hypocrites in Reform UK Ltd., with a relentless exposure of their incompetence, cruelty and inconsistency, between now and May, and burst that local bouncy castle they are playing on in Kent, Durham etc. No mercy. No niceness.
2. Quietly, both locally and nationally build that progressive coalition so there is a national alternative by 2029, with some agreed short term priorities that are more important than ideological differences. It will look messy but it’s already working in the NE.
No to fascism (REFORM UK LTD)
No to neoliberal authoritarianism (LINO)
No to FPTP
No to “tax then spend” economics
No to climate destruction
Five “NOs” to agree on?
Yes
It’s down to all of us. I agree with much that Mike Parr has said. Whatever your views may be of Corbyn but he did demonstrate a different approach to politics which appealed to many. But the fact is that he is 76 (I’m not that far behind) and the task ahead needs energy and staying power. My biggest concern is that progressive/leftish parties are never happier than when they are fighting amongst themselves trying to out-virtue each other. The right don’t waste their time and energy on such pointless exercises and are only too willing to sink their ideological differences in the mutual pursuit of power and money. The progressive/left need to learn that lesson PDQ and conduct themselves in a media savvy fashion. They need to learn how to combat a hostile mainstream media. I fear that many in the mainstream media are little more than foot soldiers for the right. Know the ground on which you are to fight and adapt accordingly. We have only ourselves to blame if, in the words of the folk song, “the silent majority stay silent”.
Sadly, the experience of the USA shows that it is quite possible for Farage to win the next election, and win with an overall majority not just as the largest party.
I hope we can learn from the complacency of the US Democratic party. For years they have taken their electorate for granted certain in their complacency that someone like Trump couldn’t win (for a second time!). A few voices, such as Bernie Sanders (actually not a Democrat) and AOC were in tune with Americans, but many were not, leading to the Trump disaster. I see the same incompetence and complacency in the current Labour party and hope to god we don’t get the same result.
Worse case scenario: things remain rather as they are, other than the rise of the Corbyn/Sultana party (which Starmer goes on an endless crusade against, and blaming them in advance for the disaster to follow). The Tories and Farage form an electoral pact with the Tories offering to not stand against any reform candidates, and they’ll do this because it’s the only way Tory careerists stand any chance of getting gravy train posts in a possible coalition cabinet. Of course if Farage gets an outright majority those self- same careerists will cross the floor any way). Hence opposition to the far right will be split at least four ways and it’s game over.
Best case scenario: over the next 9 months the situation for Starmer and his loyalists hits depths never seen before in UK politics, whilst across the pond reality sinks in as the effects of Trumpism begin to bite, hard.
Suddenly Labour back benchers realize that Starmer and Co are nothing more than a tiny corrupt corporate-sponsored cabal and threaten a vote of no-confidence unless he introduces an electoral reform bill based on PR and kicking corruption out of Westminster.
Farage got caught out yesterday with his sending women and children back comment.
He had to backtrack on this when questioned because of the implications of what it really means. So, he said this.
Reform were focused on “illegal males” and “not even discussing women and children at this stage”.
Asked whether this meant women and children would be “exempt”, he said: “I didn’t say exempt forever, but at this stage it’s not part of our plan for the next five years.”
This not only shows him to be a dumb idiot, but also what a political chancer he is.
“…not part of our plan for the next five years.”
Well, 3-4 years of those years are a Labour govt, so he can’t have a plan anyway, unless he’s planning a coup.
However, if he gets elected in 4 years time, he then has a year to set up his scheme to send women and children back.
What he is basically saying is, this is a senstive subject as it involves women and children, and we would rather not talk about. well, not until after the election. We know what would happen then if he won.
The man’s a turd.
He quite specifically included women and children the day before – in answer to a quite specific question.
Dear Mr Farage,
I understand that you want to deport 600,000 from the UK.
According to the ONS yesterday, the birth rate in England and Wales fell to just 1.41 children – the lowest since 1938.
Can you explain how, with such a low birth rate and the deportation of 600,000 people of whom many will be of working age, are you going to fund our pensions, public services and grow the economy in a sustainable way? No slogans in response please. I require a detailed and fully costed explanation. You must have the background work done already because you have made such a bold statement. If not, why not and why should we believe anything you say?
I look forward to your immediate and comprehensive response Mr Farage.
(I shall not be holding my breath Richard!)
Nor will you get a reply.
Unfortunately British people do have historical links to… well I won’t say facism but there are inherent links between colonial mindsets and authoritarian viewpoints. Especially when such colonial mindsets controlled 40% of the earth as we know it.
Deep down your average little Englander remains wilfully oblivious to what the flipside of your colonoal past actually meant.
Much like yer average little Englander doesn’t realise England, English et al is originally Danish.
There’s been 15 years of austerity under the Tories during which time you might have thought a majority of voters would have figured out the money mechanics and why there was no need for it. You’d be wrong! I talked to some relatives recently with whom I’ve had a long past history of trying to get them interested in understanding how the UK’s monetary system works even to the point of buying them elementary MMT books. Today they told me they’d signed up for Your Party along with 800,000 others. I told them I was holding back until I knew if the new party still believed in Thatcher’s black holes. I was told there were such things as black holes in the government’s finances!
Truly the country is full of Thatcher’s children who still believe her mumbo-jumbo and outright lies despite 15 years of public good and services being unnecessarily slashed. Like my relatives they very vaguely believe Your Party is bound to do better. The wing and a prayer nonsense continues!
I would also add that it’s nearly 90 years since Keynes explained why there are no black holes in government finance. He may as well not have bothered! What a mindless country!
While Corbyn is an effective communicator, he is unlikely to be leader, more a emeritus prof! Sultana, Feinstein, and my preference Jamie Driscoll are all runners. A large number of local alliances have formed, some with startling success as in Broxtowe constituency (Notts) and these will retain their identity under the umbrella. There are the entrists from both left (eg SWP) and right to counter, as well as the media, but there are a lot of great policies to highlight that have population support. It won’t divide the left, as currently there is no left. However even if highly successful I would expect the likely result would be a divided Parliament, if current boosting of Farage continues.
The 2 main parties are unwilling to attack Farage’s policies on immigration and Brexit.
Others will have some success in making a case for immigration and reversal of Brexit.There will be some benefit from the incompetence of Reform councillors .
He can be ,successfully,attacked by his links to Fascism and Trump..His reply, to paying the Taliban to accept back refugees,”It’s not our problem” can be extrapolated to “our finest moment”
.So Farage,when faced with Hitler’s invasion of Poland and France,would say “It’s not our problem” and have left the Nazis to deal with Russia.
A similar question could be asked on his views of Putin’s desire to expand the borders of Russia.”It’s not our problem” would be a vote loser.
Then attack his fondness for abolishing human rights and Nottingham Reform councillors denying access to local newspapers,reiterating the fact that this straight from the Trump playbook.
If Trump tries to go for a third term ,then you can raise the spectre of a Reform victory meaning the suspension of our voting rights.
I don’t think Reform will be able to form a proper government: even if it fields lots of candidates, and lots of them get elected, it will surely very quickly become apparent that they aren’t of the calibre to run the country: they’ll be forced to stand down by scandals, and/or not be able to manage their briefs, I just can’t see them running the country.
I am sure I have seen somewhere that Farage has said that he would appoint business people to the Cabinet, not MPs.
You can just imagine. Arron Banks as Chancellor of the Exchequer anyone?
Sounds just like what happened to Academy School Boards of Governors a few years ago under Tories. That’s when I resigned from my local Academy Board.
Musk has got a foothold in the north east.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyjljk73xno
I don’t think Farage would do very well if he was confronted by people who can express their ideas and arguments more forcefully than he can. In fact, he avoids such confrontations. The late Brian Walden would have him shouting to his minders to get him away from Walden now! I wouldn’t trust Andrew Neil to grill him properly. Ian Hislop or James O’Brien(LBC) would never be allowed in the same room to humiliate him.
In short, I’m saying Farage is an empty vessel, not as smart as he thinks he is.
I’d like to wager that Danny Dyer will not be allowed within 200 yds of him.
If ReformUK plc DOES make it all the way to office (OR ends up having the de factor “key” to any government in a hung parliament), they will have to see that actually running, or helping to run, the country, is not as clear-cut as they seem to think it will be. (Mind, that could also apply to the Greens…)
In response to Mike Parr.
Have you watched what Corbyn has been saying recently?
How do you know he hasn’t been giving responses to your list, or similar?
https://jujuliagrace.substack.com/p/can-your-party-be-for-us
I agree with Julia here about political commentators and political experts. Everybody wants him to come out with fully formed policies and processes, but that’s not the point of Your Party.
I’m calling it Your Party because that was the name that the majority of people want to keep from those who were discussing it tonight for two hours.. However, there is a long list which was discussed. It’s amazing how many words cannot be used because they have already been taken. But the good thing is that many people said they would still join the party whatever name was chosen.
It’s called democracy.
It’s strikingBlog comment creation how often movements built on anger and simple slogans can gain traction, even when their policies would harm many of the very people supporting them. The challenge, as you suggest, is finding ways to cut through the noise with narratives rooted in fairness and sustainability that people can actually connect with. That feels like the real work ahead if we want to counter the rise of figures like Farage.
In an as yet only privately circulated paper on independence and currency (Cymru), based on MMT financing of course, and under the rubric of Meeting Needs and Building the Country We Want, I advocated prioritising…
1 Food – no one hungry
2 Shelter – no one sleeping rough
3 Income – adequate wages, pensions and benefits
4 Health and Care – free access to health and related services
5 Education – lifelong education for all
These were to be understood as policy outcomes, not merely objectives. While effectiveness and efficiency were also intended to be applied to limit waste and duplication, the primary criterion for policy selection was “is it conducive to these outcomes or not?”.
This is a simple message to communicate. I suspect that the detail is not.
But they’re worth working on…
On my list
If you had said these are the sort of objectives Corbyn has, they would not have been accepted on here. He has to produce much more detail. Why is that?
JenW – please stop making mis-statememnts. Your agression is really not helping your cause. Support ideas, and please stop attacking people.
An Island of Strangers.
Once again, and as usual, the words of others help me express my own feelings. I just heard this on Radio 4’s excellent ‘The Verb’. Michael Rosen knows a thing or two about putting words together in a meaningful, expressive, and sometimes powerful, way:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/17/my-island-of-strangers-poem-michael-rosen
Enjoy!
Very good