Interesting article..

By Owen Jones in the Guardian.

Starmer should not be the fall guy for Labour’s failures. This disaster was written by committee | Owen Jones https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/20/starmer-labour-failures-disaster-committee

I know Jones divides opinion on here but, personally, I think he's correct about Farage. At the moment anyway. Early days for this government of course but one senses they are losing significant support already. Just thought some folks might like to read it.

 

How ironic that Jones accuses others of being stuck in student-politics level debate!

His analysis lacks understanding of the situation. I'm afraid these are the ramblings of a disappointed Corbynista!

 

He’s predicted everything that’s happened. You might not like him but you have to acknowledge that him & many on the left have been proven right. They said Labour would get in because of the Tories hitting self destruct & that Starmer had no vision for the country. The next prediction is that they would pave the way for Farage at the next election & unfortunately it’s looking that way.

 

Theyre neither 'ramblings' or implicitly/explicitly lacking in understanding. Whether one likes the guy or not he's put forward a reasonable, logical argument. Where do you disagree with the guy?

 

Owen Jones does divide opinion, I think his heart is in the right place but gets a bit full of himself on occasion. And of course he's a big Corbyn supporter, a man who I hold almost as responsible for Brexit as Farage, Johnson and Gove due to his completely half-arsed attitude. If somebody like Andy Burnham had been leader; Labour would have won the 2017 General Election and there might have been a 2nd Brexit referendum and we would have at least stayed in the Single Market.

 

His whole framing of the current situation is mistaken, in my opinion. There are four and a half years left of this Parliament and Labour have a 170 seat majority. They have said from the outset that they would have to make unpopular choices in order to stabilise the economy. The intention is that growth should follow. Whether they will be right, time will tell. But it's rather daft to form any judgements just yet. But meanwhile Jones, who defected to the Greens offers us his nostrums!

 

Growth forecast has just been downgraded from 0.3% for the final quarter down to 0.0%

 

Labour have now been in power for c.1/10 of this parliament Mr Kaht so yes, there is still time to turn things around but time is moving quickly. However, I dont think the majority of folks in the country are patient. They want results now I think, illogical as that might sound. There are also swathes of people who Labour are upsetting who won't forget by the time of the next election. They've basically made a bad start (in spite of an 'ok' budget) and not made enough friends. That's why I think Farage is still very dangerous. He's not had to do anything and his popularity has improved. Again, illogical, but its happening. The narrative needs changing fast and people need to start feeling positive about things very quickly or Labour WILL get hammered. Theyll lose votes to Farage and the greens. Even the Tories will do better and remember the big majority Labour has is based on c. 25% of the electorate - very weak. We'll soon be a fifth of the way into the parliament.....Labour simply haven't got much time. If there's little to no growth as well....

 

Well said especially the Brexit comment. Many dislike Blair for Iraq. I dislike Corbyn for Brexit.

 

Well, they've voted for patience - or at least enough of them to secure a 170-seat majority! Keir brings a patient, lawyerly approach to the job and doesn't shirk the difficult decisions. We have had enough 'charismatic', promise-the-earth types. They have all combusted. Starmer is about something longer term, which will take time to come to fruition. If the public don't have the patience to support that then they deserve everything they get. I don't think Farage is a danger though. A resurgent Johnson (via a by-election about 18months out from the next election) is, in my opinion!

 

Yes, it is early days but the point is that throughout opposition, the General Election and now the first half-year of government, there has been no clear agenda or plan for the future of Britain which feels tangible to voters. Pragmatism it gets called, but it is received as negativity by a nation badly in need of hope after a decade and a half of declining living standards, the reversal of which is nowhere on the horizon.

Jones is absolutely correct that this will throw people into the arms of Reform and Farage (it is already doing so). As with Brexit, their agenda presents a different way of doing things alongside an easily digested apportionment of blame to explain why it's been getting worse for all of us.

A dose of positivity and a proactive plan to improve circumstances is urgently needed for Labour, not vague promises that the magic steed of 'Growth' (dare I say a concept from student politics which I'd wager the vast majority of the electorate are not versed in) will, hopefully, save the day at some point in the next decade.

 

I hate to say it, but I feel the same fate that Cameron suffered over the EU Referendum awaits Labour hierarchy if they take this view.

 

Labour are rebalancing by taking away from the Boomers who have had it good from Governments of every colour. Everybody younger than them would have slim pickings to look forward to if they carried on greasing their voting palms.

 

Mandelson , that tells you everything about Starmer and his self interested cabal of political opportunists

 

It does make you wonder what skeletons Starmer has in his closet. Why else would someone continue to associate himself with a man as repulsive as Mandelson?

 

People have warned that a Labour govt with no mission other than to supply less of the same will herald in the far right and Farage. But the la la la we can’t do anything to help anyone crowd won’t see it until it happens.

people in this country are desperate for change. The status quo doesn’t work for them. Kids have little hope of owning a home or ever retiring and the Thatcher dream that was built on sand is collapsing and Labour trying to get it afloat is very dangerous for all of us.

The water fiasco where 75% of the country wants it nationalising where most of the companies are insolvent yet a corrupt Labour Party won’t do what they were elected to do will push people into the arms of extremists. Farage is already hinting at nationalisation. It’ll be a lie but people will believe it. Being outflanked on the left by Nigel ******* Farage is dreadful however you lie about it.

 

Farage is in the pockets of the Billionaires, and American ones at that, He’s a full-on capitalist who has no interest in Public Services and infrastructure being owned and run by anything other than the private sector. Unfortunately, I don’t predict anything other than a ‘bleak future’ for politics and the lot of the ‘ordinary person’

 

Not much between him and Starmer then

 

Farage is our Trump and however much we think it'll never happen here, the Americans voted Trump twice, three times if you believe his support. I think we have enough of our own loons to see Farage in, I'm just praying our election system works against him and also I'm not sure Farage actually wants it, strangely, he doesn't seem too keen on electoral system change. He loves being the agitator, not sure he wants the responsibility of actually having to run the place.

 

Spot on. The Starmer apologists will be 'he's long game, he's serious, he's a lawyer etc' but he's a liar, a shape-shifter and he has no vision. Bottom line is he is a Farage enablist. He might be appalled at the suggestion but he is.