There's one major problem with Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, they still think they're bank benchers.
Today it was released online an article or warning about a "soft coup" from some Labour MP's and the "Murdoch empire." This was from the words of John McDonnell.
The problem here is, these two, now very important men, forget they're not back benchers anymore, anything they write, no matter how small the following of that particular blog/ magazine/ newspaper will be picked up and read.
Your profiles have gone from MP's only a few people had heard of, to potentially being the Prime Minister and Chancellor.
Jeremy Corbyn made quite a funny blunder at the Scottish Labour Party conference, accidentally praising the SNP instead of Labour MSP's.
Immediately you could see the annoyance on Corbyn's face, then during a Sky News interview he looked ever so slightly crazy in answering whether he will still be Labour leader in 2020.
Ironically like Blair, they're stuck in the past, they're used to being the underdog, having no or little responsibility, the seats they represent would vote a chicken in if it was wearing a Labour rosette, so they're used to being part of the background, not much detail to them.
In seven months time, they'd have been at the helm of Labour for two years, it's time they had gotten used to the pressure of every little thing they say and do being analysed, and so it should be too.
These two people could be (however I greatly doubt it), the new Cameron & Osborne, or Blair & Brown double act leading the country, Corbyn & McDonnell.
If they can't handle the pressure as it is now, how on earth do they think they could deal with it if they ever won a general election? Not only the press but every country in the world will have their eyes on your every move, and word.
You would be responsible for 60 million people, you will responsible for millions of jobs, the state of the currency, the NHS, the police, the fire brigade, our Armed Forces, our defence strategy, foreign affairs.
If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen!
Blogging about British politics, sometimes international political events, all views expressed are my own
Monday, 27 February 2017
Friday, 24 February 2017
Copeland & Stoke
Jeremy Corbyn is lucky, his party on the other hand, extremely unlucky.
Labour lost to the Tories in Copeland (a seat that Labour had kept since the 1930's, and first time since Thatcher that a sitting government wins a seat from the opposition), but narrowly kept Stoke.
UKIP are now a laughing stoke, and Paul Nuttall is finished, there's no point dwelling on them anymore.
Labour on the other hand are now going to keep Jeremy Corbyn as their leader, good for him, bad for the party.
Why is it bad? Well he has no direction of where his leadership wants to go, he isn't interested in listening to other views (hence McDonnell's blame of Blair), and people just don't have the faith in him.
Ironically McDonnell blaming Blair for the loss of Copeland, is just as laughable as Blair blaming Corbyn for the Brexit vote.
There's one other reason why Labour lost Copeland, they took that safe seat for granted, the didn't think a seat they had always held would leave them for the Tories, they were wrong, and have been rightly punished.
The next general election will see Theresa May win fantastically, Labour lose sorely, and the country will be without a true opposition to hold the government to account.
The longer Corbyn stays as leader, the longer it'll take to regain a lot of lost constituencies.
Labour lost to the Tories in Copeland (a seat that Labour had kept since the 1930's, and first time since Thatcher that a sitting government wins a seat from the opposition), but narrowly kept Stoke.
UKIP are now a laughing stoke, and Paul Nuttall is finished, there's no point dwelling on them anymore.
Labour on the other hand are now going to keep Jeremy Corbyn as their leader, good for him, bad for the party.
Why is it bad? Well he has no direction of where his leadership wants to go, he isn't interested in listening to other views (hence McDonnell's blame of Blair), and people just don't have the faith in him.
Ironically McDonnell blaming Blair for the loss of Copeland, is just as laughable as Blair blaming Corbyn for the Brexit vote.
There's one other reason why Labour lost Copeland, they took that safe seat for granted, the didn't think a seat they had always held would leave them for the Tories, they were wrong, and have been rightly punished.
The next general election will see Theresa May win fantastically, Labour lose sorely, and the country will be without a true opposition to hold the government to account.
The longer Corbyn stays as leader, the longer it'll take to regain a lot of lost constituencies.
Monday, 20 February 2017
"To Incompetency And Beyond!"
The latest ICM/ Guardian poll has put Tories 18 points ahead of Labour:
Con 44%, Lab 26%, UKIP 13%, LDem 8%, Green 4%, SNP 4%, PC*%, Other 1%
What's weird is how the Tories have little to no ammo, there is an NHS Crisis, whether Tories want to admit that or not, Brexit could be seen as a shambles (until Remain spun out Blair and Mandelson), and May's cosying up to Trump has less than impressed Britain.
How bad of a leader do you have to be, that when you're in opposition and you can't beat the government in the polls on one issue.
According to the ComRes/ Mirror poll 43% of the public are "More like to trust Ma and the Tories" than Jeremy Corbyn and Labour regarding the NHS.
The NHS is supposed to be Labour's safe house, their home territory, after all it was a Labour government who introduced and started the NHS.
May also wins in every poll on whether the public prefer her or Corbyn to be Prime Minister, in fact she also trump's (no pun intended... honest) Nichola Sturgeon in Scottish polls on preferred leaders.
Jeremy Corbyn's problem? Himself, he is his and Labour's, own worst enemy.
Is he a nice guy? I am sure he is, but in the world of politics, nice just doesn't cut it.
You need someone who's got a backbone, not afraid to stand up for us, and do what they believe is best for the country.
May is a hard woman, she doesn't suffer fools gladly. Methodical, reasoned, well informed.
Corbyn is a nice man, most likely a weak hand shake, and has no leadership qualities.
Neither are good orators, but May is slightly better.
Things just get worse and worse for Corbyn, until he leaves, and as much as I am enjoying watching him destroy Labour, he is denying the country of a credible opposition, of holding the government to account.
Con 44%, Lab 26%, UKIP 13%, LDem 8%, Green 4%, SNP 4%, PC*%, Other 1%
What's weird is how the Tories have little to no ammo, there is an NHS Crisis, whether Tories want to admit that or not, Brexit could be seen as a shambles (until Remain spun out Blair and Mandelson), and May's cosying up to Trump has less than impressed Britain.
How bad of a leader do you have to be, that when you're in opposition and you can't beat the government in the polls on one issue.
According to the ComRes/ Mirror poll 43% of the public are "More like to trust Ma and the Tories" than Jeremy Corbyn and Labour regarding the NHS.
The NHS is supposed to be Labour's safe house, their home territory, after all it was a Labour government who introduced and started the NHS.
May also wins in every poll on whether the public prefer her or Corbyn to be Prime Minister, in fact she also trump's (no pun intended... honest) Nichola Sturgeon in Scottish polls on preferred leaders.
Jeremy Corbyn's problem? Himself, he is his and Labour's, own worst enemy.
Is he a nice guy? I am sure he is, but in the world of politics, nice just doesn't cut it.
You need someone who's got a backbone, not afraid to stand up for us, and do what they believe is best for the country.
May is a hard woman, she doesn't suffer fools gladly. Methodical, reasoned, well informed.
Corbyn is a nice man, most likely a weak hand shake, and has no leadership qualities.
Neither are good orators, but May is slightly better.
Things just get worse and worse for Corbyn, until he leaves, and as much as I am enjoying watching him destroy Labour, he is denying the country of a credible opposition, of holding the government to account.
Friday, 17 February 2017
Tony Blair: The Smiling Assassin
Tony Blair, the smiling assassin has raised his ugly head once more.
Not sure if Mr Blair is aware (rhyme not intended), but Leave received 51.9% of the vote, which is roughly 17 million voters.
Blair's most successful general election result in 1997 saw him receive 43.2% of the vote, which is roughly 13 million votes, good enough mandate for him to govern.
He wants Remain voters to "rise up against" Brexit, because those of us who voted to leave the EU were ill informed, basically he thinks we're thick.
He doesn't understand the many reason why people want Britain to leave the Eu, so I'll help him out.
1. Accountability of our politicians
This one reason encompasses everything from immigration levels, to what laws we have, to who we want to do Trade Deals with.
Who was accountable for what happens in the EU? Who are the people we should be having a go at about the open borders? Is Merkel? Juncker? Or the unelected bureaucrats who no one knows the names of?
The problem I find with Blair is, it feels like he's stuck in 1997, D-Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better" on a loop, whilst he constantly repeats the word "Education" over and over, whilst smiling like the Joker out of Batman.
If I were a Remain voter and Tony Blair backing my cause, I would start to rethink my choices.
Not sure if Mr Blair is aware (rhyme not intended), but Leave received 51.9% of the vote, which is roughly 17 million voters.
Blair's most successful general election result in 1997 saw him receive 43.2% of the vote, which is roughly 13 million votes, good enough mandate for him to govern.
He wants Remain voters to "rise up against" Brexit, because those of us who voted to leave the EU were ill informed, basically he thinks we're thick.
He doesn't understand the many reason why people want Britain to leave the Eu, so I'll help him out.
1. Accountability of our politicians
This one reason encompasses everything from immigration levels, to what laws we have, to who we want to do Trade Deals with.
Who was accountable for what happens in the EU? Who are the people we should be having a go at about the open borders? Is Merkel? Juncker? Or the unelected bureaucrats who no one knows the names of?
The problem I find with Blair is, it feels like he's stuck in 1997, D-Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better" on a loop, whilst he constantly repeats the word "Education" over and over, whilst smiling like the Joker out of Batman.
If I were a Remain voter and Tony Blair backing my cause, I would start to rethink my choices.
Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Moorside
Before BBC made Moorside my feelings towards Karen Matthews were not pleasant.
I felt no sorrow for her, I felt she should have locked up and never forgiven.
However, I now do have different opinions.
Am I angry at her? Yes!
Can I believe what she did? No!
Is it up to me or you to forgive her? Absolutely not.
The people that decide whether they forgive her are her family, friends, the community that got behind her, and of course her daughter Shannon.
Was Karen Matthews to blame? Yes!
Did she know when to stop? Possibly not.
We all know she's never really made great choices in her life, pretending that her daughter had been abducted was her worst decision of all.
Was Karen Matthews abused? By lots of people, and I do believe she was, and possibly still is, a weak willed person, probably every man she ever went with abused her in one way or another, she'd probably never made a decision for herself before.
I honestly believe that Mick Donovan probably was the brains behind it, not Karen, and being as weak as she is, Karen probably thought it would be OK.
Now some people might come back at me and say "other people have been abused and don't do this type of thing.'
You're right, but then again, some people who've had perfectly good lives go on to do worse things that what Karen did.
Peter Sutcliffe (The Yorkshire Ripper), Christopher Foster (killed his wife, daughter and their horses because of bankruptcy), Myra Hindley (took children off the streets so her lover Ian Brady could rape and kill them).
None of these people were "abused", none of them had, at least before, witnessed such horror, they look(ed) like ordinary people, you'd never have put them down as murderers, but they all are, mass murderers.
Do we forget about this case? No! Always learn from history, it could always happen again, and could have a lot worse outcome.
I hope Shannon and her siblings are happy, I hope they're living happy lives, getting to do things every normal teenager, and young person should be able to do.
Should people attack Karen Matthews? No, because you're lowering yourself to level she stooped to back in 2008.
If there is one thing this programme shows us, its that there are segments of people in our country and communities that are not helped, that are ignored, where doing something as diabolical as this seems like the only option left.
Things need to change, help needs to come, to prevent this from ever happening again.
I felt no sorrow for her, I felt she should have locked up and never forgiven.
However, I now do have different opinions.
Am I angry at her? Yes!
Can I believe what she did? No!
Is it up to me or you to forgive her? Absolutely not.
The people that decide whether they forgive her are her family, friends, the community that got behind her, and of course her daughter Shannon.
Was Karen Matthews to blame? Yes!
Did she know when to stop? Possibly not.
We all know she's never really made great choices in her life, pretending that her daughter had been abducted was her worst decision of all.
Was Karen Matthews abused? By lots of people, and I do believe she was, and possibly still is, a weak willed person, probably every man she ever went with abused her in one way or another, she'd probably never made a decision for herself before.
I honestly believe that Mick Donovan probably was the brains behind it, not Karen, and being as weak as she is, Karen probably thought it would be OK.
Now some people might come back at me and say "other people have been abused and don't do this type of thing.'
You're right, but then again, some people who've had perfectly good lives go on to do worse things that what Karen did.
Peter Sutcliffe (The Yorkshire Ripper), Christopher Foster (killed his wife, daughter and their horses because of bankruptcy), Myra Hindley (took children off the streets so her lover Ian Brady could rape and kill them).
None of these people were "abused", none of them had, at least before, witnessed such horror, they look(ed) like ordinary people, you'd never have put them down as murderers, but they all are, mass murderers.
Do we forget about this case? No! Always learn from history, it could always happen again, and could have a lot worse outcome.
I hope Shannon and her siblings are happy, I hope they're living happy lives, getting to do things every normal teenager, and young person should be able to do.
Should people attack Karen Matthews? No, because you're lowering yourself to level she stooped to back in 2008.
If there is one thing this programme shows us, its that there are segments of people in our country and communities that are not helped, that are ignored, where doing something as diabolical as this seems like the only option left.
Things need to change, help needs to come, to prevent this from ever happening again.
Monday, 6 February 2017
Bercow the Trump Banner!
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has banned President Trump for giving a speech in the Houses of Parliament.
Why? Well he disagrees with his sexist, racist stance. Fair enough!
But where, I ask, was his objection the the Emir of Kuwait, or the President of China?
Kuwait is a country that has banned Israli's, and imprisons homosexuals, as well as being a dictatorship.
China has no human rights whatsoever. If you were to speak out against the President you could be arrested.
China also gave the people of Hong Kong their leader, a leader they never wanted and called the people of Hong Kong to be more like "sheep".
In fact the Chinese President has called Human Rights lawyers in China a "criminal gang".
So all I am asking from our so called impartial speaker, is to be consistent.
If you'll ban Trump because of his ban, why didn't you ban the Emir of Kuwait for their ban? Why didn't you ban the Chinese President for his ban on human rights?
Don't pick and choose, don't try and be cool, be consistent with you opinions, then twits like me can't show you up.
Why? Well he disagrees with his sexist, racist stance. Fair enough!
But where, I ask, was his objection the the Emir of Kuwait, or the President of China?
Kuwait is a country that has banned Israli's, and imprisons homosexuals, as well as being a dictatorship.
China has no human rights whatsoever. If you were to speak out against the President you could be arrested.
China also gave the people of Hong Kong their leader, a leader they never wanted and called the people of Hong Kong to be more like "sheep".
In fact the Chinese President has called Human Rights lawyers in China a "criminal gang".
So all I am asking from our so called impartial speaker, is to be consistent.
If you'll ban Trump because of his ban, why didn't you ban the Emir of Kuwait for their ban? Why didn't you ban the Chinese President for his ban on human rights?
Don't pick and choose, don't try and be cool, be consistent with you opinions, then twits like me can't show you up.
Sunday, 5 February 2017
What Options Does Labour Have?
Labour is currently the largest party in Britain (membership wise), with over half a million members since Jeremy Corbyn's victory to be come leader in September 2015.
Yet they are trailing badly in the polls, according to @britainelects in their "Poll of polls":
Con: 40.1%
Labour: 28.5%
UKIP: 11.9%
LDem: 9.6%
Grn: 3.6%
Other: 6.3%
Labour are behind 11.6% the Tories, if you didn't know much about British politics you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the Tories in opposition and Labour in power, not the way it is currently.
Normally being in opposition gives an advantage as you can slaughter the government, and god knows Labour's had plenty of opportunities to do so, the NHS and Donald Trump are just two of them.
Yet for some reason Corbyn has failed to do what the opposition is meant to do, bring the government to account.
Instead they've left it to you and me to do so, people are taking it upon themselves to march against Trump's future State visit, and leaving it up to Doctors and Nurses to be the ones who go on radio and explain the difficulties they are currently going through.
So what are Labour's options?
Well, Jeremy Corbyn could try and grow a backbone, but as we all know he's had 18 months to do so and is still meek and mild.
They could try and do another coup and elect a new leader, which as we saw last time was a complete and utter failure.
Or they could wait for the 2020 general election (which by all leading polls they'll lose spectacularly), and then elect a new leader, who will most probably bring them back to New Labour's ground, which people have still not forgiven or forgotten.
Or they could split, which again isn't a great option.
In my humble opinion, they are f*cked beyond all hope.
Yet they are trailing badly in the polls, according to @britainelects in their "Poll of polls":
Con: 40.1%
Labour: 28.5%
UKIP: 11.9%
LDem: 9.6%
Grn: 3.6%
Other: 6.3%
Labour are behind 11.6% the Tories, if you didn't know much about British politics you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the Tories in opposition and Labour in power, not the way it is currently.
Normally being in opposition gives an advantage as you can slaughter the government, and god knows Labour's had plenty of opportunities to do so, the NHS and Donald Trump are just two of them.
Yet for some reason Corbyn has failed to do what the opposition is meant to do, bring the government to account.
Instead they've left it to you and me to do so, people are taking it upon themselves to march against Trump's future State visit, and leaving it up to Doctors and Nurses to be the ones who go on radio and explain the difficulties they are currently going through.
So what are Labour's options?
Well, Jeremy Corbyn could try and grow a backbone, but as we all know he's had 18 months to do so and is still meek and mild.
They could try and do another coup and elect a new leader, which as we saw last time was a complete and utter failure.
Or they could wait for the 2020 general election (which by all leading polls they'll lose spectacularly), and then elect a new leader, who will most probably bring them back to New Labour's ground, which people have still not forgiven or forgotten.
Or they could split, which again isn't a great option.
In my humble opinion, they are f*cked beyond all hope.
Wednesday, 1 February 2017
Can The Last Member Of Labour Switch Off The Lights
What a performance from Jeremy Corbyn, I've never seen one person miss so many opportunities to score at an open goal.
Ed Miliband was pretty decent at missing an open goal, but Corbyn is the master.
Trump was a subject that should have trumped Theresa May, instead she lay in camouflage, totally prepared for the, what should have been, "onslaught" from Corbyn.
Instead, Mr Bean turned up, his meak and mild ways asking questions May kept batting away, much to the shock and horror of the Labour back benches.
May answered the questions better than what Corbyn could ask them, and with her final line to her opposition number "He can lead a protest, I am leading a country." The Labour back benches couldn't hide how "glum" they were after their leaders rather feeble performance.
Corbyn's performance summed up below:
Nobody seems to actually care what Angus Robertson had to say, and Tim Farron was not only laughed out by the Tories, but Labour as well.
There is no real opposition at the moment, yes people might not like the way May deals with issues, however polls do suggest she has more trust that what Corbyn could ever hope to have.
May has even polled higher than Nichola Sturgeon in Scotland!
Currently the YouGov poll shows that Tories leader by 16%:
Conservative: 40%, Labour: 24%, Lib Dems: 10%, UKIP: 14%, Other: 11%,
(Note how other is also beating the Lib Dems).
Another poll in favour of Mrs May is who would be best Prime Minister:
May: 47%
Corbyn: 15%
Don't Know: 38%
Corbyn is still third place in a two horse race, what a feat!
Just to add insult to injury, despite over 1 million people signing a petition to try and stop Trump from making a State Visit to the UK, and thousands of people marching on Sunday night:
49% of people think it should go ahead, whilst only 36% think it shoul not go ahead.
Old Owen Jones finds himself, and his celebrity mates, on the outside of public opinion once again.
Now I am not a fan of Trump, I feel sorry that our Queen has to entertain the overgrown tangerine, but none the less it is happening, whether it's now or 2 years down the line.
Ed Miliband was pretty decent at missing an open goal, but Corbyn is the master.
Trump was a subject that should have trumped Theresa May, instead she lay in camouflage, totally prepared for the, what should have been, "onslaught" from Corbyn.
Instead, Mr Bean turned up, his meak and mild ways asking questions May kept batting away, much to the shock and horror of the Labour back benches.
May answered the questions better than what Corbyn could ask them, and with her final line to her opposition number "He can lead a protest, I am leading a country." The Labour back benches couldn't hide how "glum" they were after their leaders rather feeble performance.
Corbyn's performance summed up below:
Nobody seems to actually care what Angus Robertson had to say, and Tim Farron was not only laughed out by the Tories, but Labour as well.
There is no real opposition at the moment, yes people might not like the way May deals with issues, however polls do suggest she has more trust that what Corbyn could ever hope to have.
May has even polled higher than Nichola Sturgeon in Scotland!
Currently the YouGov poll shows that Tories leader by 16%:
Conservative: 40%, Labour: 24%, Lib Dems: 10%, UKIP: 14%, Other: 11%,
(Note how other is also beating the Lib Dems).
Another poll in favour of Mrs May is who would be best Prime Minister:
May: 47%
Corbyn: 15%
Don't Know: 38%
Corbyn is still third place in a two horse race, what a feat!
Just to add insult to injury, despite over 1 million people signing a petition to try and stop Trump from making a State Visit to the UK, and thousands of people marching on Sunday night:
49% of people think it should go ahead, whilst only 36% think it shoul not go ahead.
Old Owen Jones finds himself, and his celebrity mates, on the outside of public opinion once again.
Now I am not a fan of Trump, I feel sorry that our Queen has to entertain the overgrown tangerine, but none the less it is happening, whether it's now or 2 years down the line.
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