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General Erection 2019


Gus Mears

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One thing that does have to change is the way we vote. It’s so archaic.

The old boy at the polling station yesterday took at least 3 minutes looking up my name and address, and a further 2 going back and forth between my polling card and actually writing it down. You know that 6 digit number that is so long and unmemorable.

I came away from there utterly unconvinced that he’d crossed my name off and got the right number. I’ve worked at a polling station. It’s a piece of piss.

Sorry Cecil; your time is up.

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34 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

What worries me is that everyone must surely recognise the need for this kind of reform, but no one will agree on exactly what we got wrong.

Pretty simple. 'You' allowed a re-branded Militant, a cancer that was the scourge of the Labour Party in the 70's & 80's to infiltrate and largely take over. Presenting it as some new, utopian dream, which many young, naive 'kids' fell for. Chanting that cunts name at music festivals made me wanna throw-up...just sickening (the utter muggishness of it). Thanks to the left-wing, Marxits, Trots and whatever else, I & millions of others were subjected to endless years of Thatcher / Tory rule and fuck me, 30-40 years on and lessons learnt...none...result, the same. Present an Opposition like that and this country will take a dump on it. Guarantee. - should anyone be 'offended' by my cancer comment, I've had it twice, so I'll say what I want. -.

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The continued prevalence of the "UK wreaks havoc on the political establishment!" narrative blows my mind. You've voted in a Conservative majority, not Donny Tourette. The single biggest coup of this post-2016 world we're living in has been the heels somehow dressing up as paupers to resounding success. It's actually unfathomable. You try and temper your morning after emotions but the gullibility of it is frightening. 

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55 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

she wants an end to Uber in our area because the drivers are "nasty" (yikes)

Uber should be fucked off as a matter of course thoiugh (although not for that reason). The whole gig economy is one of the problems which have brought us to where we are.

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37 minutes ago, KingofSports said:

Pretty simple. 'You' allowed a re-branded Militant, a cancer that was the scourge of the Labour Party in the 70's & 80's to infiltrate and largely take over. Presenting it as some new, utopian dream, which many young, naive 'kids' fell for. Chanting that cunts name at music festivals made me wanna throw-up...just sickening (the utter muggishness of it). Thanks to the left-wing, Marxits, Trots and whatever else, I & millions of others were subjected to endless years of Thatcher / Tory rule and fuck me, 30-40 years on and lessons learnt...none...result, the same. Present an Opposition like that and this country will take a dump on it. Guarantee. - should anyone be 'offended' by my cancer comment, I've had it twice, so I'll say what I want. -.

The previous election saw them win more seats than in any election since 2001, and a greater vote share than in any election since 1997. On a manifesto just as left-wing as this one, with the same left-wing leader. After having lost two consecutive elections under the surefire hit of centrist Labour leadership.

So forgive me if I don't buy into the narrative of the left-wing being the problem in a supposedly socialist party.

I suppose we should be aiming for the lofty heights of Lib Dem centrism's 11 seats instead.

Edited by BomberPat
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Looking at the potential Labour leaders, Angela Rayner seems the best bet, even by default. She's the only person I can see who meets the two main criteria, namely win the leadership with the current Labour electorate, then not get the absolute piss ripped out of her by the cast of Gogglebox.

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1 minute ago, JNLister said:

Looking at the potential Labour leaders, Angela Rayner seems the best bet, even by default. She's the only person I can see who meets the two main criteria, namely win the leadership with the current Labour electorate, then not get the absolute piss ripped out of her by the cast of Gogglebox.

I think it has to be either Rayner or Starmer. 

Starmer would probably have an easier ride of it in the press, but is unlikely to appeal to Brexit voters without a bit of an image rethink. There's also talk of them wanting to shy away from the next leader coming from a London constituency, which is a logic I understood, but feels incredibly shallow and pandering. 

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8 minutes ago, PowerButchi said:

Uber should be fucked off as a matter of course thoiugh (although not for that reason). The whole gig economy is one of the problems which have brought us to where we are.

I can't argue or agree as that's totally above my station. I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough in all this to get that deep but I'll certainly take your word for it.

I will say that Uber has been a God send for me ever since it's inception, when getting a taxi was an ordeal in constantly being told on the phone "He's just coming down your road now...", being overcharged and scrambling for different phone numbers because no one will go to your area. If they're being shit, I hope something pops up and straightens them out.

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1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

I think this is an easy conclusion to jump to, but one we should try and avoid at all costs, because it's in part the sort of rhetoric that's losing support from what once were Labour heartlands. We can't tut and admonish Stanley Johnson for saying that the British public are uneducated and illiterate, and then write off entire constituencies as knuckle-dragging racists.

A lot of people voted for Brexit because, quite frankly, they'd tried everything else. Voting Labour didn't see their industries come back, voting Tory didn't make them richer. As frustrating as it is to see Brexit as a protest vote against things other than the EU, for a lot of people it was simply a last gasp effort to find something, anything that might help. And these are the exact same people that an increasingly middle class Labour Party are failing to reach.

Bare in mind I'm from, born and raised in Barnsley, and try and rememember the Channel 4 News video that they did after the referendum and that has been posted on here. Trust me, the majority of those from around here voted BREXIT and the Tory Party did so because they think that if we "sent 'em back" and fucked off the EU laws that they think are holding us back, then the towns problems will miraculously dissaper.

I can even pinpont the time when this anti-EU/Foreigner state of mind started here. It was during the Kosovo war when the government decided, owing to the fact Barnsley had one of the lowest ethnic mixes in the country, that the town would be one of the first to be allocated refugees and would receive a big amount. From that moment on, the feeling around town was that "they" were ruining the place and our "way of life". The EU referendum was a god send for those people and they ate up the propoganda that was fed to them by Farage et al.

Edited by Cod Eye
spelling was shit...
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I listen to James O'Brian each day. He's brilliant, but he's not going around telling everyone who disagrees with him to fuck off!

I didn't say he was did I? I was saying that his type of stuff is also seen as inflaming as its dismissive of a lot of people's opinions, which I what you were saying in the first place. Everyone is angry.

Edited by Factotum
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35 minutes ago, Cod Eye said:

Bare in mind I'm from, born and raised in Barnsley, and try and rememember the Channel 4 News video that they did after the referendum and that has been posted on here. Trust me, the majority of those from around here voted BREXIT and the Tory Party did so because they think that if we "sent 'em back" and fucked off the EU laws that they think are holding us back, then the towns problems will miraculously dissaper.

I can even pinpont the time when this anti-EU/Foreigner state of mind started here. It was during the Kosovo war when the government decided, owing to the fact Barnsley had one of the lowest ethnic mixes in the country, that the town would be one of the first to be allocated refugees and would receive a big amount. From that moment on, the feeling around town was that "they" were ruining the place and our "way of life". The EU referendum was a god send for those people and they ate up the propoganda that was fed to them by Farage et al.

Absolutely correct.

The local Facebook pages are awash with people who now suddenly think that South Yorkshire will now be some kind of English Utopia, with no Brown People or those who talk funny.

They're also treating it like a sporting victory. That the side who they voted for won. "We won, you lost" says Wayne from The Estate, who relies on food banks and waited 8 hours at Barnsley Hospital the last time he needed medical attention. 

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The more I think about it, the more I think appeals to "centrism" as a means of removing Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party in the hope that any desire for genuine left-wing politics magically disappears with him are akin to those in America who think that getting rid of Donald Trump will somehow magically fix the deeply ingrained issues that got them to the point of electing him in the first place. It's a political ideology of papering over the cracks, dealing with the symptoms, rather than looking at what it is that has led people to increasingly extreme points - whether that's Brexit, Trump, or what passes for "far left" in British mainstream politics. "Centrism" is a call for business as usual, for the status quo, and a complete failure to recognise that it's business as usual that people are reacting against in the first place. 

We need a new direction, and Blair 2.0 is absolutely not it. Because if the centrists of the Labour Party think that Jeremy Corbyn, a fairly unremarkable parliamentarian of some thirty years, was trouble, they're going to get a real shock in a few years time if they try and silence the left wing again, to see what they come up with next time, if no meaningful action is made to appeal to the left, and to appeal in a real sense to those for whom neoliberalism and modern capitalism are the problem. 

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58 minutes ago, Cod Eye said:

Bare in mind I'm from, born and raised in Barnsley, and try and rememember the Channel 4 News video that they did after the referendum and that has been posted on here. Trust me, the majority of those from around here voted BREXIT and the Tory Party did so because they think that if we "sent 'em back" and fucked off the EU laws that they think are holding us back, then the towns problems will miraculously dissaper.

I can even pinpont the time when this anti-EU/Foreigner state of mind started here. It was during the Kosovo war when the government decided, owing to the fact Barnsley had one of the lowest ethnic mixes in the country, that the town would be one of the first to be allocated refugees and would receive a big amount. From that moment on, the feeling around town was that "they" were ruining the place and our "way of life". The EU referendum was a god send for those people and they ate up the propoganda that was fed to them by Farage et al.

Can vouch for that. Hull is very similar. The Kosovans and the Poles are about as ethnically diverse as it gets. Agree with Pat though. It's similar to what David has been saying for a while. We (assuming we're the left) have to be careful about further isolating people who swing right and pretending that there aren't real concerns and real issues that are driving all these "surprising" election results. Otherwise Labour will continue to lose for a very long time.

These people are in for a surprise anyway when it turns out that Brexit isn't going to suddenly end diversity and immigration (unless they all decide it's shit here and go elsewhere).

As much as I am for migration, Labour has to appreciate the apprehension in most areas, especially when you factor in that Labour are generally not as good economically and don't keep employment as high (by fair means or foul). This is something I've noticed from acquaintances who have surprised me by going Tory. How much they care about "scroungers". It's another thing that's easy to scoff at but the Torys have done a very good job of kidding people into thinking they are the party of the hard working while Labour are handing out free rides. Then labour come up with a 4 day week...

16 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

The more I think about it, the more I think appeals to "centrism" as a means of removing Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party in the hope that any desire for genuine left-wing politics magically disappears with him are akin to those in America who think that getting rid of Donald Trump will somehow magically fix the deeply ingrained issues that got them to the point of electing him in the first place. It's a political ideology of papering over the cracks, dealing with the symptoms, rather than looking at what it is that has led people to increasingly extreme points - whether that's Brexit, Trump, or what passes for "far left" in British mainstream politics. "Centrism" is a call for business as usual, for the status quo, and a complete failure to recognise that it's business as usual that people are reacting against in the first place. 

We need a new direction, and Blair 2.0 is absolutely not it. Because if the centrists of the Labour Party think that Jeremy Corbyn, a fairly unremarkable parliamentarian of some thirty years, was trouble, they're going to get a real shock in a few years time if they try and silence the left wing again, to see what they come up with next time, if no meaningful action is made to appeal to the left, and to appeal in a real sense to those for whom neoliberalism and modern capitalism are the problem. 

Even without completely changing the ideology, you have to change the personalities. It's not news. It's nothing we've not been saying on here for years now. Corbyn is poisonous to a lot of working class voters. Diane Abbott, as much as I defend her because the abuse she faces is abhorrent, is a laughing stock. It needs a clean sweep.

Brexit will be off the table in 5 years which is a bonus because Labour have been fucking dreadful on it.

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