The nastiest part of the nasty party

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Binks Oct 2015 10:17pm, 12 Oct 2015 6,759 posts	0 Binks I was reading this article on cherry picking data. Apparently the USA is not so gun violent after all! mises.org
Cheg Oct 2015 10:39pm, 12 Oct 2015 639 posts	0 Cheg Yeah the world has given us a bad rap, you should see our neighbours they are loads worse!
Too Much Water Oct 2015 8:42am, 13 Oct 2015 5,243 posts	0 Too Much Water Interesting parallel (I think anyway) between it being apparently fine for one alleged sexual abuser to sit in the Ecuador embassy, and also fine for a leading Labour politician to hound another alleged sexual abuser to his death. A parallel ignored by R4 despite them being the two lead stories on PM yesterday. In other news, huge Labour flip-flop on the deficit by McDonnell. Given he acknowledges they lost the election on deficit denying it's hard to understand, unless they want to truly alienate the rest of the PLP. Interesting to see how many abstentions there are in the vote.
Too Much Water Oct 2015 8:59am, 13 Oct 2015 5,244 posts	0 Too Much Water bbc.co.uk Great article. I've heard the "I'm rubbish at Maths / I've never read a book" proudly said line loads from people in this country, then they wonder why they have a rubbish job!
DeeGee Oct 2015 9:08am, 13 Oct 2015 16,723 posts	0 DeeGee I'll tell you my issue with the deficit vote. We live, for better or worse, in a representative parliamentary democracy. As electors we have the right to decide exactly which sort of fiscal route we would like our government to follow based on the manifesto pledges of the various different parties. If come 2020 we, as a nation, choose a government which has decided to increase public sector borrowing once more, then that's our look-out. It isn't the right of any government to pass legislation hamstringing any future government into following any particular fiscal route (or any other policy route for that matter). That is our decision as electors - if we want further austerity we will vote for it. Taxation and spending are two elements that matter a great deal to the undecideds when it comes to voting day. to remove this difference between the parties effectively removes any kind of real choice, and then the old cry of "They're all the same" rings true. It's wrong to force a future Labour government to have to follow Conservative fiscal policy. It's undemocratic and probably infringes our democratic rights. Not only that, in a country which has an unwritten constitution based on common law, it's a pointless exercise anyway, as any government that got in with a sufficient majority could just pass another law overturning this one!
Doctor K Oct 2015 9:26am, 13 Oct 2015 3,628 posts	0 Doctor K No Government can bind its successor. Remember, Osborne said he would eliminate the deficit by 2015. he hasn't. The national debt has ballooned since 2015. The Parliamentary Labour Party will have to come to terms with its Leadership. After all it was their members who nominated Jeremy Corbyn, not the membership. They should respect the outcome of the vote.
Chrisull Oct 2015 9:28am, 13 Oct 2015 8,025 posts	0 Chrisull DeeGee - Agree entirely - McDonnell's flipflop came from a stupid misunderstanding of Osborne committing to an absolute surplus ad infinitum, as opposed to just balancing the books. Both FT and Adam Smith Institute both think it's stupid economics (as do most others): huffingtonpost.co.uk Problem is McDonnell by misunderstanding the original fiscal charter looks incompetent, and so rather than attacking the original idiocy, the headlines focus on the flipflop again, and Labour have missed an important chance to go on the offensive. However I do get the impression half the PLP is deliberately trying to make the Corbyn leadership fail - a stronger, more experienced team would have spotted this schoolboy error, and I suspect Corbyn will either have to stand down or start acting more dictatorially at some point. He had a chance last night to read the riot act and didn't and while acting reasonably, it just means forces are massing. Another problem is Corbyn has no friends in the press - see this excellent article on how the BBC and Guardian are helping Cameron at the moment: lrb.co.uk Quote on the BBC " So far as it is concerned, with his election the Labour leadership has put itself beyond the pale. Its norm remains a ‘balance’ between the Tories and the Labour right" And so things like this go unopposed by the Corporatives (and formally New Labour too) as the betrayers of small business: theguardian.com I wouldn't mind a conservative party protecting the interests of small businesses, promoting a one nation Britain, empowering the working poor, but instead they are enshrining the rights of big business, inherited wealth, and taking a gamble that the working poor will vote for them anyway when dangling the patriotism card, and that enough people would rather not have the "stigma" of tax credits at all (and the stigma of benefits, which Cameron himself claimed - child benefit/disability carer's allowance).
Too Much Water Oct 2015 10:16am, 13 Oct 2015 5,245 posts	0 Too Much Water I thought Corbyn's media friends were mainly in the Morning Star, Socialist Worker and Pravda?
Chrisull Oct 2015 10:26am, 13 Oct 2015 8,026 posts	0 Chrisull The far left have no friends you should know that TMW - Corbyn is a social democrat sell out who is "delaying the revolution" according to those lot. The only commentators so far who are pro Corbyn are Owen Jones, George Monbiot, Zoe Williams and Seamus Milne. That's 4 journalists from 2 newspapers out of the entire mainstream press.
Spleen Oct 2015 11:25am, 13 Oct 2015 1,212 posts	0 Spleen Chrisull: Do you really expect commentators to change all their opinions to exactly what the Labour leader of the day thinks? I thought the left were supposed to be independent-minded. If a Guardian writer does not believe that Britain should convert to a planned economy, unite with Russia against western imperialism or support the destruction of Israel, then I see no reason he should change his opinions just because Corbyn won the election, unless he is a spineless rent-a-gob. Balance means giving due weight, not equal weight. If people want to read pro-Corbyn opinions the Morning Star is available from most newsagents.