Sleaford byelection then. Labour pushed into 4th after being overtaken by both the Lib Dems and UKIP.

Hmm.

Yossarian wrote:

Sleaford byelection then. Labour pushed into 4th after being overtaken by both the Lib Dems and UKIP. Hmm.

Is there such a thing as Tories deliberately reshuffling to trigger by-elections in strongholds for FUD? I don't believe for a minute that Corbyn's in a position to win a general, but most of the bys so far seem to have been Torytowns and/or Bigotsvilles. The latter will be a problem for Corbyn, with many of those he'd represent being too dense to realise it and Skipping instead.

It feels too close to a constructed anti-Corbyn narrative when we know with reasonable certainty that he has millions of supporters. Maybe it's only those few million and it stops there, but I don't think that their voices have been registered yet.

Another point worth mentioning is that Corbyn's millions of supporters are still a tiny fraction of the total electorate, and Labour's position in the opinion polls is dire even with those millions of supporters.

I'm sorry, but surely even you can see that Labour was fucked from the get go in Richmond, and the local party insisting on standing a candidate was the issue, not Corbyn?

Sleaford is a different issue, but everyone involved in them running in Richmond was a fucking idiot.

Yossarian wrote:

Labour are fucking beset by issues, you go ahead and choose whichever you want for that particular waste of a deposit. Although I will admit that the argument that the real issue here was putting a candidate up for election does tickle me.

The Tories, UKIP and Greens all declined to stand a candidate. It was fucking obvious they would never stand a fucking chance. They should have not wasted everyones time, and their money, and let the Lib Dems have the best chance of taking a seat from the Tories.

We already were to be fair. But who knows, things have to change at some stage. Barring some kind of economic meltdown it's hard to see Labour doing anything at the next election.

I don't think Corbyn's the man to change things based on his performances thus far, nice enough chap and all but his polling is still atrocious and he doesn't seem to have caught the public imagination as anything other than the butt of the joke. I quite like him, but still don't think he has what it takes. He's not even been that radical, hasn't proposed anything genuinely forward thinking. The economic thinktank he appointed when he first won the leadership petered away to nothing ....

It's just a mess so far, only the odd good policy and still very much the same 'treading the middle path' approach that we saw under Miliband. A large part of it is that his party aren't behind him, and never will be, plus the press monstered him in the beginning, setting the tone straight away for any coverage of Corbyn as condescending and vaguely pisstaking. Journo's treat him as some loon they're obliged to indulge from what I've seen, compared to the seriousness with which they treat other politician's.

But he's not been great himself. I hoped Corbyn might be the start of a return to Old Labour rather than the shitty new branded version we've put up with for so long but it's not looking likely. The Labour right will let Corbyn stay in charge until the next election, then blame him and the left solely for the inevitable defeat before attempting to wrestle back control. They'll ignore that they themselves (and their forbearers) are far more to blame for Labour's decline of course. Corbyn came in when the ship was already sinking, he didn't lose Scotland and large parts of Northern England. But they'll attempt to pin it on him to boost their own career opportunities within the Party.

That's exactly their plan, Larry. They've tried to oust him multiple times and they're now resigned to the long game. And Corbyn knows.

And no, he really isn't that radical. Take away his Trident stance - a massive vote-loser - and he's pretty central; Captain Reasonable. But he has compassion, and that's Polloland gold for rarity. Lucas is probably still my favourite, but the last election really upset me as I walked home knowing that virtually everyone I passed had voted against me. That's why Corbyn's Labour appeals to me next time - at least I'll have some company.

Maybe it's not too late if we can have a collective impact. Everything from the papers to the TV to the Monarchy and MPs are largely against progressiveness and equality, though. The best we can hope for is a surge of votes from shit-on minorities who haven't voted before.

There will be a change. Neoliberalism is patently failing large numbers of people and being rejected all over the world, and this is only in the early stages of automation, the question is what comes next. The left don't seem to be offering many good answers, sadly.

Fuck off "afraid of hard work" you don't have to work with your hands to get fucked over

No shit

pantyfire wrote:

So angry.

I know, 3-0!

Why have the transport unions in the South East been so quick to call strikes under the Tories?

To me, it felt as though this trend of tube strikes started under Boris Johnson's time in the mayor's office.

This TFL tube strike on Monday is going to be hellish.
Couple that with all the issues with Southern Rail, Thameslink...

All this, and tbh, I have no idea what's going on in the rest of the country.

What's the key here? 
Underinvestment, or an unheralded rise in demand?

This is just uninformed opinion, but … I reckon the problems with the UK transport system stem from privatisation. Our transport network is just not able to turn a sustainable profit while also providing a good service (and treating staff fairly) – which is why it should never have been privatised.