Rayvin

Maybe. I have nothing left to believe in. IMO Trump will win and use COVID to sustain his assaults on internationalism. Johnson will win because Labour are done. 4 more years of the former, and IMO up to two more terms for the latter.

Clinton lost to a man whose ratings were the lowest of any president to take office, after he was publicly outed for sexual assault, and whose incompetence knows no bounds. She lost to that man. I don't care if it was by one vote, she was smashed. Any competent (far) right politician would have utterly annihilated her. As it is, an incompetent one won a close victory. People want change.

That's the point though ewerk. There is nothing being put forward that the left can unify around - not even climate change has managed to do it. You talk about unity as if we should all just band together around whatever policies float at the time. That isn't a fucking vision, it's not unity, its an alliance of convenience. The left does need a movement, it needs something like momentum even. Just a momentum run by people who aren't total fuckwits. Unfortunately with the left, although increasingly with the right too, it's only the total fuckwits that come to the fore. So it doesn't matter who I dismiss in this fiasco of a political leaning because until someone comes forward with an actual fucking vision and a strategy to achieve it, a Blair if you will but clearly a more radical one, we aren't going anywhere. Starmer, as much as I'll vote for him, has no vision. He will lose. Biden has no vision. He will lose. If we do get someone with a vision, the media just destroy them. We are fucked.

I'm going to add that the left will never capitalise because it needs a global movement and is incapable of creating one. It is intellectually bankrupt with no ideas or vision around which to unify people other than fear of climate change. It has filled it's ranks with the super woke who achieve utterly fuck all aside from immediately switching off the working classes, and when it finally does put forward people like Corbyn and Sanders who actually stand on platforms of truth with policies that can make a difference, it fails to credibly defend them from the obvious as fuck targeting and sustained attacks they come under. The left is a disorganised, useless collective of well-meaning hand wringers who lack the strategic vision to mount a serious challenge, and the fire and fury to push it forward even if they did manage to create one. I give Sanders a pass on this actually because i think he has both in spades - his problem is he's trying to reform a country that is beyond the pale in the stupidity stakes. The left will never beat the right because the left are made up of pleasant ordinary people with a social conscience who think that if they're just nice enough to everyone and tell the truth, they'll change people's minds. Meanwhile the right are spending billions changing the definition of the word 'truth', hiding facts through newsfeed algorithms, lying shamelessly, and perverting legal and electoral processes. How are the left ever going to beat that? We haven't even gotten started on deep faking yet, but you just know that it'll be a generation defining political fuckfest when that comes into play.

I'm not even that young anymore and I'm disengaging as a result of people like Biden. In 20 years time we will have a world awash with the problems caused by climate change and an electorate that is broken and furious that this shit is what was left behind by their parents. But as much as you might think those voters will vote left, they won't. The right will win as it points to closing borders to stop climate migrants, isolation and protectionism. The left will suddenly be the thing we dont have time for, we'll need immediate, police state style solutions. Added to this, Rupert Murdoch's preserved head will still be running 50% of the world's media.

It's nice that Ireland has a population of intelligent people who can make informed decisions. And the boomers will die eventually but they will still stitch us up man. There is no way through the smears, lies, untruths and fake news.

No, I think the left will never win anything. As I said in the post you quoted... So it's not so much a strategy as a determination to die on our feet. I have no optimism whatsoever about the left. It's just what I think will happen, not an insight into wider strategy. There is no strategy on the left. It's all wishful thinking, positivity and self delusion.

Yep. Even Hilary, at least, had "I'm a woman, it's my turn". It's not a strong message at all, but it probably energised a few brainless people. Biden has "I used to work for a black man".

Surely Bloomberg will drop out now. I'm not sure that the Democratic party will survive this shit in the long run though. There's just no compatibility between their left wing voters and their centre right wing voters. Why they should all be in the same party, I don't know. Why anyone expects the left to continue to tolerate failed centrist economic policies, I don't know. The left will never win anything, but i think its patience for propping up the centre may have come to an end across the board. Labour might get away with it because in fairness, even Starmer is pretty left wing. The democrat moderates aren't Starmers though. They're more like Johnson.

It looks to me as though Biden will win this now. As much as people can say that Warren is only harming Bernie by staying in (undeniably true), the same point could be made about Bloomberg. At least he's winning fairly. I hope he has something special up his sleeve to beat Trump because if he comes out like Clinton did he's going to be smashed like she was.

I think the problem might be that we're running out of time though. Late stage capitalism is destroying society and it's destroying the world. We don't really have the time to softly softly our way to global correction. Looks like Biden is going to be the lightning rod for the dropout centrists. Hopefully Bloomberg will stay in the game long enough to split that vote.

I was referring to the powers that be within centrist politics rather than voters tbf.

It's the same shit the world over. The centrists prefer rampant racism and regressive values to the prospect of paying higher tax.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/norway-sovereign-wealth-fund-gains-grows-billions-a9363801.html Norway's sovereign wealth fund made £140bn last year - the one they set up after investing their oil wealth into it for the public good. The thing we could have done if Thatcher hadn't been such a completely incompetent, greedy fucking cunt. It's worth £160,000 per every Norwegian person. Population wise, I'm sure it'd be much lower for us - not that I know how much our oil take versus theirs was - but assuming it's about the same, it'd be worth £2,500 per citizen of the UK. The positive impact that would have on public services man. £100bn of that straight into the NHS. If we'd had that, we could have been a bit more positive about leaving the EU. The Tories are nothing but fucking parasites. Not intelligent, not savvy, not anything other than greedy and selfish.

Fair enough then. Obviously we can't let the ECJ handle any disputes (for many well thought out and robust reasons), so that's presumably no deal for us.

Devil's advocate - have the EU actually done what he says? I actually think they might have. It's only recently that this stuff about the UK being different to Canada because it's 'a competitor on their doorstep' has entered the conversation. Now yes, obviously, we saw this coming - they have to protect their own interests, etc etc. Fine, no problem with that - but they have undeniably changed their position even so. Which is giving right wing rags like the Telegraph ammunition. I wonder if, by the end of this, the gutter press will have turned the whole country against the EU.

I haven't. I assume by unchained they mean full free market, zero regulations. Until someone rich needs help when it becomes socialism again. I hope Cummings is proud of himself if that's what he ushers in. Doesn't seem at all aligned with his espoused views.

But why do they want it so much. Seriously, apart from a few rich fucks shorting the pound, what tangible benefit does it have for anyone, anywhere?

I just read that he's threatening no deal by June if he doesn't get his way. Honestly I think the EU should walk away themselves.

It's about sovereignty mate. You wouldn't understand.

That's essentially how they pushed Farage to the fore. They've long established this precedent. We have to accept that being 'impartial' apparently means impartiality with respect of opinions, not facts.

I really think the BBC are just trying to avoid being smashed under the directive of Grand Overseer Cummings. As I've said previously though, they made their bed in the election and now they can fucking lie in it.

And they say cheaters never prosper. Not that we'll ever know for sure I guess.

Inevitably

If he has been doping, what happens? Will he be stripped of his medals? Presumably sponsorship too.