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Corbyn's days (very) numbered?

Archie Gemmill Goal said:
Surely like moderate anything it means applying it where it makes sense but not dogmatically so. NHS yes. Publically owned railways and utilities possibly. Publically owned department stores no.
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Nice summation. There are infrastructure items that should by and large remain the remit of the state, health care, education, transport infrastructure, electricity grid, water, would all be on my list. When it comes to making goods to sell to consumers, i.e. cars, best leave it to the private sector. My only caveat about private enterprise is that the aim should be a level playing field rather than a free market, that is some country that lacks workers rights and environmental protections shouldn't be able to take advantage of that to undercut our homegrown industry.
 
Garrison said:
Nice summation. There are infrastructure items that should by and large remain the remit of the state, health care, education, transport infrastructure, electricity grid, water, would all be on my list. When it comes to making goods to sell to consumers, i.e. cars, best leave it to the private sector. My only caveat about private enterprise is that the aim should be a level playing field rather than a free market, that is some country that lacks workers rights and environmental protections shouldn't be able to take advantage of that to undercut our homegrown industry.
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Most of the infrastructure you list was built by private enterprise originally (at least in the UK). Or were mixed. Health care was nationalised n 1948, prior to this thee was a mix of charitable, local authority and private institutions, most of the world manages with a similar mixed economy. Rail was private, the nationalised service stripped out lines. Water and sanitation were a mix of private and local authority. The mobile telephone system is private, BT were forbidden to participate. The canal system was private. In many parts of the world drinking water is private (bottled, wells, or communal).

I am sympathetic to the idea that some things are 'natural' monopolies. These are not so clearly the remit of states. If we look at the UK, some things fit easily within an Island monopoly, either GB or Ireland. In the US somethings are state and some are federal. Air traffic control tends to be supranational. If you look at small states like Luxembourg, Monaco, Vatican etc. I question whether there are any natural state monopolies.

State monopolies tend to exist because of legal constraints to supra national structures rather than any requirement they aren based on the nation state.
 
Tory Chancellor says he is going to borrow to invest and scraps targets for reducing the deficit.
Maybe Corbyn is rubbing off.
 
After the Labour Party performances in Sleaford and Richmond Park where they finished fourth, would it be possible to suggest that Jeremy Corbyn hasn't acted as a catalyst for by election success ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38258976

Apart from being popular with a hard core of "Old Labour" and the Momentum crowd, it doesn't seem that Corbyn brings a lot to the table :(

FFS we need a functioning opposition otherwise Hard Brexit and all it entails will get through on a nod and a wink :mad:
 
Agreed. Labour has one last choice between oblivion under Corbyn or relevance under anyone else.
 
The problem that Labour has is that there isn't anyone else credible at the moment. The PLP couldn't organise a succesful coup and their effort only served to show that they have nothing to bring to the table.

My only hope is that in the medium term Corbyn might actually be good for the party because he's a catalyst for bringing forward a new generation of Labour politicians who will develop their own leadership and style without the baggage of New Labour.

In the short term I think we're ********** though and I sincerely hope that after the debacle that will be the next general election Labour can come out of it intact and then move forward.
 
Camillus said:
The problem that Labour has is that there isn't anyone else credible at the moment. The PLP couldn't organise a succesful coup and their effort only served to show that they have nothing to bring to the table.
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There are no doubt people who would appeal to the general public more than Corbyn (or perhaps turn them off less) but they aren't acceptable to the Old Labour and Momentum loyalists.

The only geniunely popular Labour Party politician is Ed Balls - thanks to his performance on Strictly Come Dancing and he says he's not interested.
 
Ed Balls was so popular at the last General Election that he lost his seat.

Now he's not even an MP but has taken part in a celebrity dancing competition, that makes him a good candidate for party leader? You couldn't make it up.

Labour's biggest problem is that they continue to lecture potential voters on how they should think and feel. If they started listening to voters and came up with policies to give the voters what they want then they would do better under any leader.

Corbyn is a crap leader but he's better than any of the non-entities that have so far challenged him in the two leadership elections that he's won decisively.
 
ceptimus said:
Ed Balls was so popular at the last General Election that he lost his seat.

Now he's not even an MP but has taken part in a celebrity dancing competition, that makes him a good candidate for party leader?
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No it doesn't and I'm not sure that anyone has claimed that it does - merely that thanks to Strictly Come Dancing he is genuinely popular.

ceptimus said:
You couldn't make it up.
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Yes you can, you just have :rolleyes:
 
Camillus said:
The problem that Labour has is that there isn't anyone else credible at the moment. The PLP couldn't organise a succesful coup and their effort only served to show that they have nothing to bring to the table.

My only hope is that in the medium term Corbyn might actually be good for the party because he's a catalyst for bringing forward a new generation of Labour politicians who will develop their own leadership and style without the baggage of New Labour.

In the short term I think we're ********** though and I sincerely hope that after the debacle that will be the next general election Labour can come out of it intact and then move forward.
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I'd say that the problem is: The Labour membership have retreated into their comfort zone and until they are willing to leave their safe space and venture into unpleasantness of electoral reality they will continue to fail at being an effective opposition.
 
Now it seems that Momentum is turning in on itself:

A bitter dispute has broken out over who should hold the reins of power in Momentum, the movement that was born out of Jeremy Corbyn's 2015 leadership victory.

The Left finds itself fighting itself yet again in a battle that pits the old guard against the young.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38258143

Reminds me of student politics all those years ago, what a complete shower.......

But a blog by Momentum member Laura Murray, in which she outlined a split between younger Labour Party members "close to [Momentum founder] Jon Lansman" and "older, Trotskyist, seasoned in far-left factions" members means the organisation has been making headlines like "Trotksyist factions seeking to take over Momentum, member claims".
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I have got a good mind to vote for Corbyn if I felt he was up to the job. All these Tory cuts are getting me down a bit with the tycoons being unaffected by all of it. In previous world wars rationing was equitably administered. Even George V had to restrict his alcohol intake, and the water levels in his baths was limited. I think Corbyn is right about the railways. What seems to happen now is that the private sector picks up all the profits while the taxpayer has to cope with the infrastructure investment, and losses in business of Railtrack. Who would work for the government now?
 
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