Rayvin

Could quite fairly level this at all of us too mind Although I guess we're at least not trying to make a platform for it.

Does feel like there's been a shift in the winds on this - possibly thanks to Truss accelerating us to oblivion, possibly just cost of living biting. Long may it continue, we need a bit of fucking reality.

Doesn't seem to have a blue checkmark actually so I guess the more interesting consideration here, given that he's a nobody really, is why Gemmill even knows who he is

Agreed, sniping at the leader of the Labour party to give the Tories an advantage is incredibly dismal behaviour. Momentum seem to have quietened down though at least, this has probably been the most internally stable the party has been in years. I've no idea what would possess any individual who claims to care about the politics they speak to (on the left) to actively work against the party leadership. Just suggests they're either too arrogant or wholly insincere. And either way, completely fucking useless and complicit in what follows.

I also think this. She was going to be my pick for Labour leader before Corbyn came along and seduced me with his socialist wiles. On balance of where we are now, I regret that choice - that said maybe it's for the best in some ways since if she had been leader, she likely still would have lost in 2019 and then she'd have been a busted flush. I think she'll be leader after Starmer now.

I don't disagree with that hugely tbh, but what has given me some optimism is the reminder that most people who were working age did not vote Tory. If those people continue to work harder and harder for less and less then I don't know, eventually something has to give. That something could be full on fascism though, you're right

I'll stress the article just paints a picture of the despair of the current reality, it's me that's saying it can't possibly be sustainable

Sorry to double quote you but this article actually does give me a bit of hope. The scale of the betrayal of older generations of the younger that is clear within this is at some point in the hopefully very near future, surely, going to result in not just a swing to Labour for a single election victory, but a full scale swing back towards internationalism and collective engagement. It seems our lot in life is to endure this so our children may repair it, but this fully demonstrates the extent to which we have just walked into the mother of all national dead ends. It can't last, there will be some manner of reckoning in the end. The only shame will be that those who induced it won't live to see it.

Superb article. 100% correct about the lot IMO.

Have to say that article really drives home this wider issue at the top of the Tory party - they are all overpromoted and out of their depth, politics aside. So not only are they morally objectionable, they're also dangerously stupid. Johnson really has moulded the party in his own image.

That's a comedian tbf - she does a very convincing job though!

She's not even Jewish... she's of Sri Lankan origin apparently, and is a practising Buddhist (which clearly aligns with the compassionate and anti-materialist values of the Tory party). She's married a Jewish man, as far as I can tell, but isn't Jewish herself. In summary, Hancock is a weapon.

If anything, the fact that everything we've done so far was well within Ashley's ability (top end maybe, but still within it if he was running it properly) actually further underlines how fucking useless the guy was.

I genuinely believe that's the answer to this question presently. I can't really see how it could be anything else unless they're intending to find some large trading bloc to share in the negotiating power of, and use the wider common challenge faced by all the nations within it to tackle the issue from a position of collective strength in terms of negotiating with pharmaceutical giants and so on. That sounds like it would be a pretty useful thing to do, wonder where we could find a trading bloc like that... But yes, clearly the plan is simply that people will die. People that didn't have to die, will die. That's Sunak's gift to the country.

Where exactly is the NHS going to find upwards of 10% to cut from its budget?

Double digit cuts on every department off the back of 12 years of cuts. Are they fucking serious. Tax corporations, you fucks. Raise the money that way and then invest it back into the economy, boosting public sector spending, raising growth, and then tax everyone (in a proportionally fair way) to a higher level to pay off the debt. That way we're leaving our children with an economy that has some chance of delivering a better life to them whilst at the same time paying off national debt over the long term - rather than failing to pay off national debt through austerity since it leaves us completely defenceless against things like Covid and externalities we can't control, and on top of that means our children are inheriting a smoking ruin rather than a nation. In other words, do what Truss was going to do but a) funded through taxes on (corporations) those who can afford it and b) give the proceeds of that to the people of this country so that WE can spend and WE can bolster growth, not your fucking mates who will just offshore the lot of it anyway. Oh and one other thing, small point really but every little helps and I know how keen you are to "give back to the country that gave you so much" - REJOIN THE FUCKING EU.

Sorry, she did show up, she just fled. Cooper is so much better than Starmer btw.

"Brave"rman not even brave enough to show up to confront Cooper.

Led by Donkeys do incredible work but I do sometimes wonder if they're preaching to the choir. Does it go in to the ears of the dispassionate general public? It's well done so I hope it does. Honesty from Sunak is welcome but he'll get no points for it on this issue. Equally though, maybe he means diverting money away from already Labour voting areas? Just a continuation of longstanding Tory policy to reward the areas that vote for them with more money?

And his rule will be one of terror and death, based on his stated aims.

I'm not really anticipating anything, certainly with respect of stability - other than, I suppose, that I don't think the whole thing collapses before a GE. That's the only position I have on it really. All I'm saying with that previous post is that he will have given her that position to try to deal with the instability. Whether it works or not, I've no real view - more concerned about austerity than anything else.

I think it's fully as simple as keeping the ERG on side. He wants stability, Braverman is an ex-chair of the ERG, having her in position gives them the illusion of some manner of control over proceedings, if not some actual and real input. It may not play well with the public but within the Tory party it looks like it makes sense to me from a unifying standpoint.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/26/rishi-sunak-britain-general-election-protest Really good article by Monbiot as usual. "After 12 years of Conservative austerity and chaos, the very rich have taken almost everything. They have even captured virtue. They now appropriate the outward signs of an ethical life while continuing – despite or because of their organic cotton jackets and second homes, their electric cars and pasture-fed meat, their carbon offsets and ayahuasca retreats, philanthropy and holidays in quiet resorts whose palm-thatched cabins mimic the vernacular of the people evicted to make way for them – to grasp the lion’s share of everything... ...In other words, it’s not just a general election we need, it’s a complete rethink of who we are and where we stand. It’s not just proportional representation we need, but radical devolution to the lowest possible levels at which decisions can be made, accompanied by deliberative, participatory democracy. It’s not just new lobbying laws we require, but a comprehensive programme to get the money out of politics, ending all private political donations, breaking up the billionaire press and demanding full financial transparency for everyone in public life. We should seek not only the repeal of repressive legislation, but – as civil disobedience is the bedrock of democracy – positive rights to protest. All this now feels far away. Jeremy Corbyn offered some (though by no means all) of these reforms. Keir Starmer offers none. Though Labour MPs voted against the public order bill, his only public comment so far has been to endorse its headline policy: longer sentences for people who glue themselves to roads. But if the Labour party or its future coalition partners can persuade him to agree to just one aspect of this programme, proportional representation, we can start work on the rest, building the political alliances that could transform the life of this nation. Without PR, we’re stuck with a dysfunctional duopoly, in hock to the billionaire press and the millionaires it appoints to govern us. We cannot carry on like this."

It's absolutely about keeping ERG on side - also worth noting though that Braverman is a favourite amongst the Daily Mail brigade. She'll keep the dyed in the wool Kippers happier.

It's this sort of cutting political analysis that makes your contributions on here so vital to the debate