Labour Party/government Watch

[3rdRock]

The Tories have successfully convinced a gullible public

Let's not forget that they only got 24% of the electorate to vote for them.

True. I suppose apathy and the 'drip feed' of populist bile from Channel 5 and Rupert Murdoch ensured that the rest stayed at home on the 15th May.

Why trudge down to the polling station to exercise your democratic right when you can relax indoors and chill out to the latest offering of banal shite for the hard of thinking on the telly?

[kenneal - lagger]

There's nothing capitalist, psuedo or otherwise, at all about the Kleptocracy that rules us. They are anti capitalists if anything as the thought of allowing their beloved corporations to go bust gives them palpitations!

All the major parties, UKIP probably included, are owned by the Kleptocracy so a vote for any of them will get roughly the same result. There may be differences in what they say before an elections or in opposition but once in government we will get the same old corporatists crap demanded of them by their sponsors.

The sooner we stump up for the running of political parties, ban all contributions from anyone and ban the employment of former politicians and civil servants by large corporations (that might take some very good wording to achieve) the sooner we will have honest government. That could take a very long time but getting rid of the current corrupt system is imperative if we are not to be put back into serfdom.

[kenneal - lagger]

We must also prize the press and TV from the hands of corrupt tax haven billionaires, the Kleptocrats, who have their minions write the "stories" which get their chosen ones into government at the next election.

They, our politicians collectively, missed a massive chance of putting Murdoch into jail for the sins of his papers. It would have got the monkey off all their backs.

[3rdRock]

We must also prize the press and TV from the hands of corrupt tax haven billionaires, the Kleptocrats, who have their minions write the "stories" which get their chosen ones into government at the next election.

They, our politicians collectively, missed a massive chance of putting Murdoch into jail for the sins of his papers. It would have got the monkey off all their backs.

Trouble is, the monkey pays well.

[emordnilap]

However, my overriding concern is for the next and subsequent generations. They've been handed a poisoned chalice, of our making, from which there will be little chance of escape. Their aspirations for career, housing, independence and quality healthcare are unlikely to be met.

But, but, but...if I had had the information contained within PS in my twenties - or been given sufficient motivation (such as environmental calamities) - my life would actually not be that much different to how it is now. It's just that I would have created and followed this lifestyle way sooner, making much more of a personal negative impact on resources.

In other words, the way I live my life now - little money, little consumption, mucho satisfaction - would/should have suited me decades ago if I'd been educated realistically and it's a choice anyone can make and enjoy, at any age, any time. Billions more could fit on the planet (not that I'm advocating that; just saying it's possible) or we could have resources for thousands of years rather than tens, just by accepting a simpler, more open-eyed life.

[3rdRock]

All fine and dandy EM and it's the sort of lifestyle I'd actively encourage.

Trouble is, how do you convince a generation of cellphone zombies of the difference between needs and wants?

Debt-ridden materialism is the flavour of choice and has been since the eighties.

[3rdRock]

The future direction of the Labour Party. You choose.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... tre-ground

Labour is heading for four election defeats if it continues to believe it can win by stepping away from the centre and offering old-school tax-and-spend policies, Tony Blair has said.

He described the Labour campaign in this year’s election as old-fashioned enough to be from Star Trek and argued that shifting the party further to the left would just lengthen the period before Labour could win again.

Blair said those who said their hearts are with the leftwing candidate Jeremy Corbyn should “get a transplant”.

The former prime minister was speaking on the day that an opinion poll by YouGov showed that Corbyn was likely to win the party’s leadership election by a margin of six points in the final round.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 06317.html

What the Labour party could look like under Jeremy Corbyn

[johnhemming2]

They, our politicians collectively, missed a massive chance of putting Murdoch into jail for the sins of his papers.

What it is that the politicians should have done?

[kenneal - lagger]

As he is where the buck stops they should have encouraged the police, who may also be in Murdoch's pocket or at least under his thrall, to look to prosecute him as the person ultimately responsible for the conduct of his papers. Even taking him in for questioning, or extraditing him, would have damaged his credibility and that of his rags (I'll not dignify them with any name denoting news).

[emordnilap]

When you next hear some political oik going on about 'competition', think newspapers. Oh, and water, postal and delivery services, health, public transport, education etc etc. Conservatives and their corporate handlers are anti-compettion.

[johnhemming2]

As he is where the buck stops they should have encouraged the police, who may also be in Murdoch's pocket or at least under his thrall, to look to prosecute him as the person ultimately responsible for the conduct of his papers. Even taking him in for questioning, or extraditing him, would have damaged his credibility and that of his rags (I'll not dignify them with any name denoting news).

He was summoned to a select committee. However, the rules of evidence have to apply.

Rebekah Brooks was cleared of all charges by a jury. In the light of that was there evidence to prosecute her boss?

[johnhemming2]

When you next hear some political oik going on about 'competition', think newspapers. Oh, and water, postal and delivery services, health, public transport, education etc etc. Conservatives and their corporate handlers are anti-compettion.

If you think "media", there is now a really wide range including Al Jazeera, RT, the BBC, various privately owned bodies.

Even I now have a youtube channel on which I put jazz music and stories from people persecuted by the English state.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uApuCE07HJE

This forum is part of media competition.

[3rdRock]

However, my overriding concern is for the next and subsequent generations.

They've been handed a poisoned chalice, of our making, from which there will be little chance of escape. Their aspirations for career, housing, independence and quality healthcare are unlikely to be met.

... and as if to prove my point, this from today's Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/j ... ext-decade

Generation rent: the housing ladder starts to collapse for the under-40s

House price rises of 5% a year and a shortage of affordable homes are set to swell the ranks of “generation rent” over the next decade, so that by 2025 more than half of those under 40 will be living in properties owned by private landlords.

A report from economists at accountancy firm PwC suggests the number of new homebuyers is set to fall over the next 10 years, as the high cost of raising a deposit locks large segments of society out of the housing market.

Levels of homeownership have gone into reverse after years of increases that were stoked by Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy policy and the deregulation of the mortgage-lending business.

[Tarrel]

James McEnaney: Why we should welcome Tony Blair's intervention in Labour leader race:

https://commonspace.scot/articles/1951/ ... eader-race

Article suggesting that the dropping of Clause 4 was the start of Labour's demise and how "weather-vane" politics needs to be replaced by principles once again.

The Labour party had not just the right, but also the duty, to join SNP, Plaid Cymru, Liberal Democrat, Green, SDLP and DUP MPs in opposing these cuts - in failing to do so it has all but relinquished the right to call itself the opposition.

We are facing a government which pays for cuts to corporation tax by plunging ever-more vulnerable human beings into despair, and the Labour party has not the courage or the conviction to unequivocally condemn it.

People up and down the country - many of them card-carrying party members - will now be asking the same question posed by Nicola Sturgeon: "If Labour is not about standing up for the vulnerable, trying to lift people out of poverty and help those who are working hard to make ends meet, then what on earth is Labour for?"

[biffvernon]

Dunno why anyone should listen to Blair. He ought to be in jail.