Politics

[Rayvin 4964]

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2021/05/tony-blair-warns-labour-could-die-under-starmer-and-woke-left-he-planning

 

Blair giving Starmer both barrels here. Not sure I can see the evidence of a 'plan for a return to front line politics' but it would certainly be a dramatic development. I agree with much of this, in particular this part:

 

Young progressives, suggests Blair, have “defaulted to issues around culture, gender, race and identity” precisely because Labour has failed to offer them an economic programme that is both radical and practical. Starmer’s empty cultural politics follow from his failure to offer any economic vision.

[PaddockLad 14623]

49 minutes ago, Renton said:

 I would love it if the bailiffs arrived mob handed  at his flat at number 11. 

 

This makes him pretty much ineligible for credit or a mortgage. Still, just proves he's one of the lads. 🤷‍♂️

 

Is this why he's "borrowing" money from tory doners? 🤔

[ewerk 26441]

Those quotes look like they were written by an out of touch man knocking on 70.

I can't see young 'woke' activists giving up the fight for equality in order to march for a new economic programme. His advice is to simply ignore the liberal left, did he do that when he repealed section 28 or lowered the age of consent for gay men?

I'd like to read the full essay but from the excerpts I think he's pointing out the obvious problems without providing any viable solutions.

[ewerk 26441]

1 hour ago, PaddockLad said:

 

Two ex-wives, unpaid debts, cadging off his mates, at least six kids (most of which he doesn't see or acknowledge) and shacked up in free government accomodation with a bird who's 23 years his junior. If it weren't for the pure fortune of birth he'd be the star of a Channel 5 poverty documentary.

[PaddockLad 14623]

28 minutes ago, ewerk said:

Two ex-wives, unpaid debts, cadging off his mates, at least six kids (most of which he doesn't see or acknowledge) and shacked up in free government accomodation with a bird who's 23 years his junior. If it weren't for the pure fortune of birth he'd be the star of a Channel 5 poverty documentary.

 

Someone nearly as clever as you said as much on twitter earlier today

 

 

[ewerk 26441]

Nearly as clever but not nearly as attractive.  

[Renton 17822]

Hah, you've unmasked yourself.

 

And I'm slightly scared!

Edited May 12, 2021 by Renton

[Monkeys Fist 38802]

[Dr Gloom 19837]

surely that isn't ewerk

Edited May 12, 2021 by Dr Gloom

[Renton 17822]

No.

 

It's funny how you imagine people on here before you meet them. For years I imagined Alex looked like James Dean. Imagine my disappointment! 

 

[ewerk 26441]

2 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

surely that isn't ewerk

[Dr Gloom 19837]

7 minutes ago, Renton said:

No.

 

It's funny how you imagine people on here before you meet them. For years I imagined Alex looked like James Dean. Imagine my disappointment! 

 

Dean Norris, more like 

[PaddockLad 14623]

1 hour ago, Dr Gloom said:

surely that isn't ewerk

 

Ewerk is plainly an 8 stone bespectacled bean counter with social anxiety issues

[Renton 17822]

4 hours ago, Renton said:

 

Is this legit given the incorrect name and address? I can imagine his team making shit up like this so he can prove its false and muddy the waters on his real cases pending. 

 

 

Hmmmm.

 

 

 

[ewerk 26441]

9 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

 

Ewerk is plainly an 8 stone bespectacled bean counter with social anxiety issues

[ewerk 26441]

8 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

Hmmmm.

 

 

 

It sounds like a trick I've employed from time to time before with large corporations. You raise a claim then send it to a general address marked for the attention of no one in particular so it gets ignored every time it's sent then the court sides with you because no one from the corporation comes to defend as they don't even know the claim exists.

[Sonatine 10007]

 

[RobinRobin 9241]

10 hours ago, Renton said:

 

Hmmmm.

 

 

 

Might at least pretend that they are going to apply to the Court to have the judgement set aside, before defending it on the basis that it is without merit - rather than just tell the Court to wipe the slate clean because we said so. 

[ewerk 26441]

I see Johnson hasn't even had the decency to offer an apology in the House to the families of the Ballymurphy massacre where ten innocent civilians were shot by the army. Even David Cameron came to the House to apologise for Bloody Sunday after that report was published. He really is a scumbag of the highest order.

[ewerk 26441]

And just a bit of background on Ballymurphy, it wasn't a single event like Bloody Sunday, it was three days of murder by the British army.

Quote

Six civilians were killed on 9 August:

Francis Quinn (19), shot while going to the aid of a wounded man.[13][6]
Father Hugh Mullan (38), a Catholic priest, shot while going to the aid of a wounded man, reputedly while waving a white cloth to indicate his intentions.[13][14][15]
Joan Connolly (44), shot as she stood opposite the army base. It has been claimed she was shot by three soldiers and that she might have survived had she been given medical attention sooner, but she lay injured in a field for several hours.[13][16][17][15]
Daniel Teggart (44) was shot fourteen times. Most of the bullets entered his back, allegedly as he lay injured on the ground.[13][1]
Noel Phillips (20), shot as he stood opposite the army base.[13][18]
Joseph Murphy (41), shot as he stood opposite the army base.[13] Murphy was subsequently taken into army custody and after his release, as he was dying in hospital, he claimed that he had been beaten and shot again while in custody. When his body was exhumed in October 2015, a second bullet was discovered in his body, which activists said corroborated his claim.[19]
One civilian was killed on 10 August:

Edward Doherty (28), shot while walking along Whiterock Road.[20]
Another three civilians were shot on 11 August:

John Laverty (20) and Joseph Corr (43) were shot at separate points at the top of the Whiterock Road. Laverty was shot twice, once in the back and once in the back of the leg. Corr was shot several times and died of his injuries on 27 August.[13][21]
John McKerr (49), was shot in the head by an unknown sniper while standing outside a Catholic church and died of his injuries on 20 August.[6][22][23] The 2021 inquest was unable to establish who had killed him.[24]
An eleventh civilian died on 11 August, following an altercation with a group of soldiers:

Paddy McCarthy (44), McCarthy's family allege that an empty gun was put in his mouth and the trigger pulled, he suffered a heart attack and died shortly after the alleged confrontation.

 

[PaddockLad 14623]

@ewerk do you think if there had been some sort if "truth & reconciliation" process in the late 90s things would be different in NI nowadays?

[ewerk 26441]

The late 90s would have been far too early in the peace process to begin that, peace is still fragile but was much more so back then.
 

I don’t think there’s any overarching system that’s going to solve the problem. Every family of a murder victim wants answers. This doesn’t just apply to victims of British forces, this week a man was arrested for the IRA murder of a 23 year old police officer. What the Tory government are proposing would put an end to all prosecutions and that is just going to prolong the feelings of injustice.

The problem with prosecutions, court cases and government enquiries are that they are so expensive and take so long. Some system short of full criminal prosecutions which could accept lower levels of evidence and provide verdicts which don’t carry criminal convictions might work but I’m not sure whether such an idea is even practical or whether if would have the confidence of the unionist and nationalist communities.

[ewerk 26441]

I'm starting to understand why Rayvin prefers Scotland.

 

[PaddockLad 14623]

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by PaddockLad

[Isegrim 8875]

She is a fascist. Nothing less.