Posts by Russell Brown
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So I finally found the macro button on my iPhone camera. Upon the Port Hills, this morning.
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John Cassidy in the New Yorker: Sunderland and the Brexit Tragedy
Very reality-based.
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Speaker: The Government you Deserve, in reply to Jim Cathcart,
I hear you Russell. Interesting to note that Matt’s opinions are echoed in those of John Pilger’s.
Oh god, don't make me read that Pilger column again. It's incoherent.
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Speaker: The Government you Deserve, in reply to Alfie,
I fear that we have been insufficiently careful to distinguish “neoliberal global establishment” from “amoral robber barons who will use outright fascists as shock troops if it furthers their interests.”
But is there any difference between the two?
Well, there was in Chile. (Btw, that's Caleb you're quoting, not me.)
I believe that Brexit has provided a suitable shock for the neolibs to speed up their transformation of the UK. Osborne has already announced the need for tax increases and hinted at cuts in health and education. Under Boris, the move to super-Thatcherism will go into top gear.
Tax increases aren't generally a neolib thing – it's more that Brexit is going to screw them fiscally.
But the post-referendum changing of the guard certainly does usher in the hard-right of the Conservative Party. Perhaps that's why Murdoch and Dacre are as pleased as Pilger, albeit for different reasons.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
In a sensible political system, the rump PLP (made up of Blairites, Brownites, careerists and those who don’t really care if the government bombs foreigners and throws people out of jobs so long as they use the correct language around their chosen identity group) would accept the loss of Labour, found their own party and contest the next election.
It's hard to see how it all hangs together at the moment, for sure. And surely no one wants a repeat of the Militant Tendency era.
There's a precedent in the formation of the SDP in 1981, when Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams left Labour after – and I had totally forgotten this! – the conference that committed Labour to withdrawal from the EEC .
Such a party could establish a support base as a pro-Europe party in London, although that could complicate relations with the new mayor, who might well be on their team in spirit.
(Alternatively Momentum would morph into a Podemos/Syriza type party and contest the election).
Which you'd think would only happen if Corbyn doesn't remain leader. But maybe it makes more sense. I've been struck by Momentum's almost obsessive focus on de-selecting the errant, which seems to disregard the interests of ordinary people who've voted for their local MP for years and may not wish that MP to be dumped by people who have literally been Labour Party members for less than a year.
It also seems ironic, given that Corbyn voted against the party whip 500 times without fear of being purged. He also backed Tony Benn's hopeless challenge against Neil Kinnock. (It's also worth noting that in facing that challenge Kinnock was also expected to secure the support of 50 MPs for his nomination – something that the Corbyn team won't do, in part because they would not be able to muster that level of support.)
The prospect of dumping 80% of the party's elected MPs before the next election (which could yet be soon) was being cheerfully embraced by some of my friends on Twitter today. I'm not sure how that will work out. Or how a Momentum-party would actually go.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to nzlemming,
Cute quip but missing the point.
You did kind of set up the joke!
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
If UK Labour could manage to offer a fix for the EU situation (basically, concede acceptance of all EU rules without actual membership in return for market access) then, once businesses start closing in droves, they could win without much in the way of public love.
That does seem pretty much the best way through, yes. But who knows what they'll do?
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Alfie,
Corbyn believes that Tony Blair should stand trial for war crimes – a position which does not endear him to the remaining Blairites within Labour.
I do want Corbyn to be there for that.
But can we get past the idea that the only people who don't have faith in Corbyn any more are Blaire dead-enders? It's plainly not the case.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to nzlemming,
While he has the allegiance of the membership, he’s safe as leader. What the membership need to do is put pressure on their elected reps to get their shit together and actually do their job.
Although those representatives aren't elected by the party membership, but by millions of constituents.
He can’t do that by himself anymore than Hodgson could win against Iceland – it’s the team that’s got to do the job.
Yeah, but Roy Hodgson has resigned.
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Capture: Two Tales of a City, in reply to Chris Waugh,
As I noted on Twitter after hearing the sad news this morning, this thread – more than 1600 comments over two years – is a testament to the importance of her images.
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