To be fair, with an 80 majority from the last election, his only danger comes from ambitious Tories.
For what it’s worth, Starmer’s approach [edit] IN THIS PARTICULAR SCANDAL AND NOTHING ELSE [/edit] has been pedestrian, but probably sound - let them own their messes, and don’t engage in the culture war [edit] (See Barnard Castle scandal and “Wallpaper-gate”) [/edit] - because that is their home field. The next election is years away.
From a probably soon to be ex-member of the Labour party, it has been anything but sound. I don’t expect Corbyn to come back (he was only the best choice at that time anyway), but I have a long list of Labour MPs who I thing would be a better leader than he is, and from most of the internal factions too (except Blue Labour, they can go fuck themselves)
Is that what doing nothing about repeat offence transphobia is called now? Or the repeated abuse by Labour politicians to travellers that caused Labour GRT to disaffiliate from the party? Or where they think that LGBTQI+ is incompatible with Northern and working class?
They’ve fucking engaged, and it’s on the same side as most of the Tories. I didn’t do anything, but I have to deal with the consequences of their hate. I feel like I am being forced out of the party, I’m tired of this bullshit and if I go I am not going back again. My existence is NOT a culture war.
Reminder:
For fucks sake, Keir! This is from a former head of the CPS too.
And
Woah there! That’s quite a tangent - I was primarily meaning the failed attempt to couch everything in Parliament as being a “Leave” vs “Remain”/ Pro-EU/International vs Patriotic British position. Not engaging in that has put Labour ahead in the polls for what that’s worth, if Cummings’ culture war games were still being played that would not be likely.
The continuing farce of the PLP and it’s People Front of Judea/Judean People’s Front factional disfunction will help perpetuate eternal Tory rule - Progressive alliance and PR is the only hope, then Labour can split into it’s factions and stand or fall on their individual policies. I quit the party long ago.
Really? Embracing the worst aspects of Blair era Labour and letting bigots run wild in the party is “sound”… fuck that.
Seriously… supporting human rights for EVERYONE is not a culture war… it’s the lowest bar of being a moral human being.
You can’t pick and choose here. Their embrace of right wing politics matters, even if it’s not something that directly impacts you. We stand together on these very basic issues, or to paraphrase old Ben Franklin, we hang apart…
This is not a new thing for Labour - it’s part of the factional disfunction - pet bigotries. In a PR world they’d not get my vote.
You know, I’m am going to pick and choose about the things I commit to keyboard, because I’m as out of my depth on trans issues as I am comfortable discussing inter-European political and economic unions.
Labour has fundamentally failed here. I don’t think you have to understand trans issues to listen when trans people point out discrimination aimed at them. It should be enough for you to accept their experiences, since they are not your experiences. Given the very real threat facing @the_borderer and other trans people in the UK, we should not brush it off as unimportant just because it’s not OUR experiences.
Don’t strawman me here - I’ve not mentioned trans issues other than to state my inadequacy in understanding them. If @the_borderer says that Labour has transphobic policies I’m in no position to reject that, ditto for the Jewish people who have told me about some Labour faction’s anti-Semitism - that’s their experience, and I’ll accept that.
As a non-member I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that - and I’d be surprised to find the other choice in our crappy binary system is any better when it comes to inclusion.
Of course not, which makes pointing out the major problems in Labour critical, I’d argue. And I have no expectation that you “fix” the problem, either. But calling the current labour party’s current policy “sound” on many things isn’t helping either. It would be far more sound for them to offer an actual alternative across the board, rather than just be “Tory-lite”… That’s just not sound policy on anything. 
I’d argue that a line needs to drawn by all of us that we collectively work to hold politicians and political parties to, especially on these basic rights issues. Party member or not, it matters that all of us (there in the UK and here in the US) make that crystal clear going forward. For too long, the rights of marginalized groups have been seen as little more than fodder for the major parties to treat as artifacts in the culture war, but lives are at stake here. I don’t think it should be good enough anymore for any of us to accept what they are offering us.
If you pop back up you’ll see that I’m talking about Starmer’s approach to the bombast and well practised jingoism of Johnson - particularly in this week’s scandal. Who knows what their policies are? We are years from an election and they are in a significant minority so they are kinda moot - I’ve not looked for them.
The video above is a case in point of an effective counter to Bumblefuck Johnson :
By sidestepping the police investigation angle and simply asking for Johnson to be honest he’s not opening up to the obvious response that the Police are independent and politicians shouldn’t influence their actions (despite this happening often).
Yeah, that worked a wonder in 2016 with Trump… /s
I think you’re missing my point… 
I agree it’s a shitty arse situation. However, most people I know, from different backgrounds and ideals, are sick of it and will not allow Boris to continue to lie. Unity against fascism.
No it isn’t. You brought up that you thought that Keir wasn’t engaging in the culture war, and I gave some examples where his party had taken the side of the bigots and he did nothing. Standing back and letting abuse happen is not the same as not engaging, especially when it is the leader of the opposition standing back.
Tell that to the polls. Labour has been behind for most of the last year and on a few occasions they have has a small lead (like today). That might be enough for a hung parliament at best, but Labour needs a bigger lead than they have had for the last two years if they are to win. Starmer has pissed off too many people and he needs to resign and take Mandelson with him.
Edit:
Fuck this bullshit! Keir Starmer is a threat to my rights, as is anyone who refuses to accept that transphobia is unacceptable in the Labour party. Should we let the BNP into the progressive alliance too, if it gives them enough votes to win?
I wonder if people realize they are literally saying that we have to give up on your lives and worry about others, and just how god awful that is to do. 
This enrages me too… so much. People keep arguing that trans rights, women’s rights, minority rights, etc, are “culture war” issues, and if we just focus on the bread and butter issues, the Labour and democratic party will do fine… well, how more bread and butter can you get than the basic rights to exist and be free in a society!!!
I think they believe that are “marginal” to “real” issues and can be used as bargaining chips… clearly we’ve learned nothing from the violence and wars of the last couple of centuries.
In this particular topic, the one under discussion, with the Tories. I fear you are looking for an argument that isn’t there, I’m not a Labour member, I’m not a Starmer-Bro, I think the Labour Party have repeatedly failed against a deeply unpopular Tory Party for five years. But what is the alternative? See below!
(Survation has Labour 6 points ahead today)
Which is why a progressive (i.e. Parties not planning to repeal the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the ECHR, so a low bar) alliance and the end of FPTP is the only way to avoid the binary choice of two “Big Churches” trying to appeal to the largest number of groups - bigots included - because that’s how you win. Left of centre parties have taken more votes than right-wing ones for decades in the UK - yet here we are entering the 12th year of Tory rule.
Holland has PR, and has 21 parties represented in the States General - including two parties running on an entirely minority rights manifesto (Who split from their Labour party). No party has held a majority in Holland since the 1800’s, none have got close to that for 100 years.
This?
https://www.transemigrate.org/
Yes, England and Wales are listed as countries that are considered a risk.
This is where not engaging in the “culture war” got us. Trans rights is my “line that can’t be crossed” issue, and I can not support anyone who would abandon me to win. You want me in a progressive alliance? Now you know my conditions. Call me intransigent, but this is a life or death issue for me in a very real way.
You still seem to be pursuing a fight that’s not there - Do you want me to re-join Labour to quit again? Vote Tory?
I don’t see an alternative to perpetual Tory rule in your response, and you have seen how little they worry about pandering to any and all 'phobics to steal votes from the far right. As a result the fact that the UK as become less tolerant to almost all minorities during their tenure is a truism.
FPTP feeds on pandering to the majority - and winner takes all - that’s led to a government who wants to repeal human rights laws, restrict the courts power over the executive, restrict the right to protest and break international law to push refugee boats back into the open seas.
Pragmatically, until FPTP is consigned to the bin, it’s a mostly a binary choice (for England) so I’ll hold my nose and vote for the “Not Tory” party most likely to win in my constituency (Labour) as the least bad option.
