What is the point of Labour ?

[pandarilla]

To be honest this general election has taught me that reporting/expecting news immediately isn't that good a thing.
 
Both because Facebook now *is* the internet for people who came late to being online and so don't understand it is being used by people with opaque/dangerous backers to function as a radicalisation platform aimed at them, and because Twitter's stupendous banter & debunking output has no effect on what happens because other than journalists and the politically interested, not enough people use it.
 
I think I'm going to start an actual newspaper subscription in recognition of this.
 

I make a monthly contribution to the common weal website for the same reason.

I might get the morning star when my faither passes - but just now I get a wee look at his copies whenever I go down.

[Granny Danger]

I must add Caroline Flint to the list of MPs who I’m glad to see got punted.  An odious c**t of a woman; I hope she never gets over the disappointment.

 

[Granny Danger]

Reading the names being bandied about for the Labour leadership is depressing.

Total lack of talent.

[NotThePars]

To be honest this general election has taught me that reporting/expecting news immediately isn't that good a thing.
 
Both because Facebook now *is* the internet for people who came late to being online and so don't understand it is being used by people with opaque/dangerous backers to function as a radicalisation platform aimed at them, and because Twitter's stupendous banter & debunking output has no effect on what happens because other than journalists and the politically interested, not enough people use it.
 
I think I'm going to start an actual newspaper subscription in recognition of this.
 

The LRB is good. Fortnightly though.

[Fullerene]

On 14/12/2019 at 18:33, ICTJohnboy said:

Think he would have needed to have been full on Leave to placate traditional labour heartland areas,  but then 95% of his party were hell bent on remaining. He was in an impossible situation.

I get the impression from where you live that the attitude is that Corbyn is okay about everything else but Johnny Foreigner needs to f*** off.

Is that about it?

[Highlandmagyar 2nd Tier]

7 hours ago, Old Pack said:

Labour are finished

They will return in some guise if Scotland gets independence. 

[Mr Heliums]

6 hours ago, MixuFixit said:

I think I'm going to start an actual newspaper subscription in recognition of this.

I've tried the New York Times (international). Arrives a day late, but it's great for world affairs.  You can get it delivered for £4 for 4 weeks for a trial period. 

[Fullerene]

11 minutes ago, Mr Heliums said:

I've tried the New York Times (international). Arrives a day late, but it's great for world affairs.  You can get it delivered for £4 for 4 weeks for a trial period. 

There is a lot to be said about said for papers somewhere else on the planet who have no preset opinion on the UK.  

I have been in places such as Japan, Singapore and Dubai and read articles that would never appear in any UK newspaper and I mean any.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Fullerene

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, Mr Heliums said:

I've tried the New York Times (international). Arrives a day late, but it's great for world affairs.  You can get it delivered for £4 for 4 weeks for a trial period. 

Preferred it when it was the Herald Tribune and slightly more diverse. Tempted by Le Monde Diplomatique which would be cracking to be seen reading in a cafe, but I think I've only seen the English edition for sale once.

[ICTJohnboy]

9 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

I get the impression from where you live that the attitude is that Corbyn is okay about everything else but Johnny Foreigner needs to f*** off.

Is that about it?

 

Very much so, although a lot of them seem to think there will be fewer Pakistanis coming to this area once we've checked out of the EU!

Seriously, I hear it all the time around here. "We know what we voted for mate, but unfortunately we're not allowed to spell it out". They then go on to explain why it's so difficult to get an appointment with a doctor or a dentist, because of all the foreigners that have "taken over" in this area and who somehow always get priority and always end up at the head of the queue. What they don't seem to notice is that when you do get an appointment, whether with a doctor, a dentist, or even nurse, that person is more likely to be Asian than anything else.

 

 

[Fullerene]

22 hours ago, MixuFixit said:

Yeah but like, we have a better press than Turkmenistan and whatnot.

Careful!!  Don't give him ideas.  Heathrow airport to be named Johnson Airport.  Manchester to be renamed Johnsonville.  Friday to be renamed Johnson Day. Christmas to be ... I do I have to go on?

[CambieBud]

Go back 30 years and Scottish Labour had lots of political giants. Now they produce Kezia Dugdale and Richard Leonard. Any aspiring politician with left leaning views will join the SNP. Labour must leave the London based party and go it alone. New leader, new policies, particularly support for Independence or fade away into the sunset. In England the young were galvanised behind Labour in 2017 but not up here. The young are vastly pro independence and SNP voters. Labour will never appeal to them unless it changes completely to recognise this. I never thought I would see the day when the whole central belt would reject the party of Donald Dewer et al but have done and there is no way the present party will win that support back

[Mr Heliums]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

Preferred it when it was the Herald Tribune and slightly more diverse. Tempted by Le Monde Diplomatique which would be cracking to be seen reading in a cafe, but I think I've only seen the English edition for sale once.

Yes, it was better then – and more newsy. Still, I can't think of a UK newspaper that's near it for breadth.

[Jacksgranda]

49 minutes ago, Mr Heliums said:

Yes, it was better then – and more newsy. Still, I can't think of a UK newspaper that's near it for breadth.

How wide are their pages?

[pandarilla]

Go back 30 years and Scottish Labour had lots of political giants. Now they produce Kezia Dugdale and Richard Leonard. Any aspiring politician with left leaning views will join the SNP. Labour must leave the London based party and go it alone. New leader, new policies, particularly support for Independence or fade away into the sunset. In England the young were galvanised behind Labour in 2017 but not up here. The young are vastly pro independence and SNP voters. Labour will never appeal to them unless it changes completely to recognise this. I never thought I would see the day when the whole central belt would reject the party of Donald Dewer et al but have done and there is no way the present party will win that support back

I met Richard Leonard quite a few times 15 years back and he's definitely left wing. He was working alongside the leader of the Communist party in Scotland and came across as a genuine and highly intelligent guy. He's a deep-thinking policy guy.

I'm gutted that he's not been able to do anything but I'm struggling to think what he could do. His style is obviously not engaging but I'm not sure what direction he could take the party in which would work.

Scottish Labour will not recover until post independence, and then it absolutely will.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, MixuFixit said:

How does it compare to the FT? That was what I was considering having enjoyed it when I did s month trial.

The Times is a lot better recently, maybe since Rupert's sons have taken over, few scoops against Boris leading up to the election, and some objective reporting. Free at Inverness Airport if you pretend you're flying with BA.

[ICTJohnboy]

3 hours ago, CambieBud said:

Go back 30 years and Scottish Labour had lots of political giants. Now they produce Kezia Dugdale and Richard Leonard. Any aspiring politician with left leaning views will join the SNP. Labour must leave the London based party and go it alone. New leader, new policies, particularly support for Independence or fade away into the sunset. In England the young were galvanised behind Labour in 2017 but not up here. The young are vastly pro independence and SNP voters. Labour will never appeal to them unless it changes completely to recognise this. I never thought I would see the day when the whole central belt would reject the party of Donald Dewer et al but have done and there is no way the present party will win that support back

 

I've thought and thought about this, but the best I can come up with is Donald Dewar, who you've already mentioned.

Care to name a few more political giants of the Scottish Labour Party over the past 30 years?

[NotThePars]

The Times is at the forefront of the anti-trans culture war and still publishes actual fash inspirer Melanie Phillips doesn’t it? It’s the posh wing of The Sun.

I’m sure the LRB Bookshop sells Le Monde Diplomatique but that would require becoming a metropolitan elite.

[sophia]

13 minutes ago, ICTJohnboy said:

 

I've thought and thought about this, but the best I can come up with is Donald Dewar, who you've already mentioned.

Care to name a few more political giants of the Scottish Labour Party over the past 30 years?

Brian

[ICTJohnboy]

38 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Na. Once Rupert is pushing up daisies maybe.

 

 Dead Pool 2020 potential?