Reply to: The future of the Labour Party

[Doggy Styles]

The Labour Party will survive. They will have a spell in the doldrums while voters' memories fade, then they will come back NEWER.

Presumably just in time to f*** up the economy again.

[HairyArsedBloke]

This isn't /. or your blog. Grow up.

Get her !

[d000hg]

For the future of the Nation:

• The party will be banded.
  
• The leadership will be arrested, stand trial for treason and hopefully be put to death.
  
• The membership list will be checked and those found to have any assets will have them seized and all members will have to pay extra taxes to pay for the damage done.
  
• Significant donors, both individuals and corporates, will be investigated and will also be subject to asset seizure's and higher taxes.
  
• Anyone who has been found to have any links with the Labour party will be baned from receiving money from state funds either directly or indirectly. This included employment and benefits. Anyone employing former Labour members or supporters will not be eligible to do any work for government and maybe subject to in depth investigation.

This isn't /. or your blog. Grow up.

[HairyArsedBloke]

The G.O.T has been at it again.

Some may say NSFW, but I don't.

[AtW]

Harriet Fraidy Harperson? I should hope not. Too scared to walk the streets of her own constituency without body armour...

So that's Peckham in which Trotters were operating then...

[Doggy Styles]

Spot on.

Big party politics is a business that exists to serve the career politicians. It has nothing to do with us or with democracy. It is a scam, a sham, a mockery of democracy.

The big two both know that at least 2/3rds of their existing MPs will be re-elected and there's a few dozen who may or may not. If either of those 2 parties wins, it makes little difference to them except to the dozen or so cabinet members who get paid that bit more than the shadow cabinet members.

They're fleecing us. 'Principles' and 'representation' have no place in big party politics.

And yet so many people want to create a further layer of these parasites by having elections for the House of Lords.

If you don't need votes, you have less cause to lie.

[ratewhore]

Oh yeah! I forgot all about it, I've been a bit 'tom'.

That's better.

Most productive use of twitter I have yet to find...

[George Parr]

Spot on.

Big party politics is a business that exists to serve the career politicians. It has nothing to do with us or with democracy. It is a scam, a sham, a mockery of democracy.

They'll never live like common people
They'll never do whatever common people do
They'll never fail like common people
They'll never watch their life slide out of view.

[TykeMerc]

Spot on.

Big party politics is a business that exists to serve the career politicians. It has nothing to do with us or with democracy. It is a scam, a sham, a mockery of democracy.

The big two both know that at least 2/3rds of their existing MPs will be re-elected and there's a few dozen who may or may not. If either of those 2 parties wins, it makes little difference to them except to the dozen or so cabinet members who get paid that bit more than the shadow cabinet members.

They're fleecing us. 'Principles' and 'representation' have no place in big party politics.

I couldn't agree more.

[RichardCranium]

Harman won't be the leader.

Harriet Fraidy Harperson? I should hope not. Too scared to walk the streets of her own constituency without body armour...

[HairyArsedBloke]

Bout time you updated your twatter page...

Oh yeah! I forgot all about it, I've been a bit 'tom'.

[ratewhore]

<snip>

Bout time you updated your twatter page...

[Sysman]

Harman won't be the leader.

Harperson.

[RichardCranium]

But every one now seems to be trying to squat in the middle ground in order to be in with a shout, then appeal to some non-centre voters in order to swing it.

Spot on.

Big party politics is a business that exists to serve the career politicians. It has nothing to do with us or with democracy. It is a scam, a sham, a mockery of democracy.

The big two both know that at least 2/3rds of their existing MPs will be re-elected and there's a few dozen who may or may not. If either of those 2 parties wins, it makes little difference to them except to the dozen or so cabinet members who get paid that bit more than the shadow cabinet members.

They're fleecing us. 'Principles' and 'representation' have no place in big party politics.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

That would be good - although not for the majority on here who seem to favour a one-party (Tory) state, of course. Not least because the Liberals are substantially to the left of Labour on most issues these days.

Might be hard, they don't occupy the same ground as they used to. Tories were the party of the landed gentry and old money. Liberals were the party of business. Labour were the party of the workers and the poor.

Labour didn't exactly replace the Liberals: Labour's fortunes rose because their constituency started being able to vote.

Meanwhile the Tories replaced the Liberals as the party of business (on the surface anyway, I have doubts about deep down). The Liberals' fortunes declined because their natural ground was stolen.

Now that (New) Labour has decided to take the Liberals' old ground, not to mention the modern Conservatives' ground, naturally the Liberals can occupy some of the ground that (old) Labour still thinks belongs to it but which actually it has abandoned. Like the less fortunate.

I don't favour a one-party state regardless of which party, not even one I could dream up. But every one now seems to be trying to squat in the middle ground in order to be in with a shout, then appeal to some non-centre voters in order to swing it. The strategy of appealing to off-centre voters who are not your traditional consituency, while at the same time not alienating your traditional constituency, will win out over the "safe" strategy of apealing to your traditional constituency. But go too far, and you will alienate your traditional constituency and not win.

Hence the contortions of politicians trying to appeal to all, including those who demand principles.

As for actually having principles, ooh, that's a bit risky.