The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was not the only cause of the Battle of the Somme. I am surprised to see an archaeologist suggest such a thing. Similarly, if our present conditions lead to some catastrophe, it will not be just because some people voted for Brexit or Donald Trump, but part of a process of consistent activities that began a long time ago, such as the American imperial project, represented today more by Clinton than Trump, although there is little actual difference. On the other hand, while some things spread socially, others don’t. Maybe this awful election won’t destroy us all. There is always hope.
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Thing is, he’s going to trounce Smith. Then what? The fuckers in the PLP are going to keep this up no matter what. It’s sickening.
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Well I’m not voting for Smith.
Somehow I have been persuaded to join the Labour party. That’s assuming the PLP don’t throw me out, they might actually prefer the Trotskyists to me.
I feel like I have done something really bad and wrong, like expressing admiration for Maggie Thatcher.
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I’d be surprised if Corbyn doesn’t win by a larger margin than last time. Though we have had some recent, ah, electoral surprises… 
Well, I have failed to vote for anyone/thing that won at a national level. So far.
Hey, I never claimed to have an answer.
New SDP/Continuity Labour is all I can see happening.
So you didn’t read the article.
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They aren’t allowed their own party, fuck 'em. They have to go and play with Tim Farron, that’ll learn 'em.
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That was a crushing read.
Sorry, that’s all I can come up with at the moment. My brain feels full right now.
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Does the shadow secretary really have much authority in this situation, especially when the Tories have such a strong parliamentary majority?
Part of the problem Labour has today is the same problem Sanders has in the US, namely even though his policies represent traditional Labour positions the right has painted him as being extremist, which he is by Blairite standards. (Likewise Sanders, a Kennedy Democrat, looks like an extremist compared to the Blue Dogs who have dominated the Democratic party since the 80s.) This makes him too easy to dismiss. I don’t know how you change that short of retaking government and yanking perception of the norm over to where you want it, the way Thatcher did in Britain and Reagan did in the US. Corbyn, unfortunately, clearly lacks the leadership skills necessary to accomplish this, if he can’t even get the centrist wing of his own party to rally behind him.
Corbyn will probably win (unless the latest challenge to him appearing on the ballot succeeds), but the left wing of the party needs to start immediately to find someone with some fire in the belly to succeed him.
I’d vote for Dennis Skinner.
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I like Skinner (I was still living in England when he became party Chair). Wait, Skinner’s still an MP? Good for him!
Do I think that Jeremy Corbyn is the best person for leading the Labour party? I have already said that I don’t. But I am tired of being sold out by right wingers and centrists from all parties. I have had to deal with it for my entire life and I don’t know how much more I can cope with. There is a case to be made that I’m not coping already and at this point I’m just surviving.
It’s the likes of Owen Smith who make me feel like I am doing something wrong by joining the Labour party. It feels like he is only on the Overton Window left, rather than actually being left wing. I can’t bring myself to support his leadership attempt.
Maybe the answer is to try and become a Labour MP myself then try to become leader, although I have strong doubts about my ability to be a politician because of disability. But if no-one else will do it…
I certainly agree, and it is a problem that has faced your country and mine for decades.
Since Blair/Clinton we’ve had two competing schools of thought: use a moderate to keep the window from drifting further to the right, without applying any real leverage in the other direction; or let the window drift while we ready someone who will push hard back in the opposite direction. So far the first school has been dominant. This cycle Labour’s left has blown a real opportunity to try the other path: when they had the votes to get one of their own in place, they put in a compromise leader who is likable but frankly not very effectual.
We didn’t even get this chance in the US, as control of the DNC by the party’s middle-right wing kept Sanders from getting any early traction.
My criticism of Corbyn (a) doesn’t mean much, as I’m not a UK voter, and (b) doesn’t mean I prefer that Smith beat him for the leadership position. I just think this is time that Labour should stop squabbling and find someone strong well in advance of 2020. I think the Tories will be really vulnerable then because of brexit fallout, and it is a great opportunity to slip in a principled candidate instead of a triangulater, but it will only work if you have someone who can stand up to May in a head-to-head, which Corbyn certainly cannot.
You mean the increase in mass incarceration of Blacks? Or Bill Clinton playing sax on Arsenio Hall?
I wish I could find it, but some think we’re already in the third world war. From the position of the middle east or the global south, it likely looks that way.
But depending on the working definition of war, we’re involved in over 100 now:
I think one thing to keep in mind is that how the US wages war is very different now, in part due to new technologies and in part due to the experiences of the cold war.
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