Jeremy Corbyn

Thoughts?

 

Certain national electoral defeats for at least another decade for labour if Corbyn wins. It's Michael Foot and the early 80s all over again. The tory victories foots leadership led too meant they were able to destroy our town. I don't want labour to make that mistake again. Say what you want about Blair he won elections the looney left never have and never will. But I get the feeling the far left would rather shout from the sidelines about how bad things are instead of coming up with and implementing sensible honest solutions.

 

Suicide for the Labour Party if he wins the leadership. After being completely rejected in the last election in favour of the Tories more right wing policies to take a giant leap to the left is almost like giving up on the next election. With the unions recommending him and there mindless drones just following there instructions, we will end up with a leader that is just unelectable like Red Ed!!
Althought talk of re nationalising some failing former publicly owned assets is a welcome to go as far as to reintroduce clause 4 is a step too far!

 

I like him.

 

I don't think he's a striker but I think he'd be good on the left wing

 

Too old. No resale value.

 

Echoes of Foot in the '80s. It will mean no credible opposition if he is elected.

 

What would you class as credible opposition?

 

Not a Labour party led by Corbyn. Alan Johnson would have been a brilliant Labour leader if he'd stood.

 

So any other candidate?

 

He'll get slaughtered by the Tory press and the light blue Labour Mp's , his politics are spot on but I'm not sure I could support a tea total vegetarian !!

 

I don't get what he's offering. If you want what he's peddling then vote Green. That's where Labour will end up under him. A niche party with no real influence.

 

He's a breath of fresh air in the Lakbour party. The fact is the electorate rejected the Tory lite policies of labour last election. So following them under another right wing candidate is the right idea?

Corbyn has mobilised many who couldn't care less about politics because he has principles and he sticks with them, not changing them to suit what Murdoch wants them to be. The queues to hear him speak tells you that this man has the public ear. And many top economists agree that his plan is not suicidal, but a viable alternative to the austerity that everyone else says we have to stick with.

As a Labour supporter I want him to win, if only to tell the rest of the " I won't play if Jeremy is leader" faction what democracy is about. If you don't want to work with him then leave the party.

Rant over, what's happening with Holgate?

 

^^^ This ^^^

 

Corbyn's messaged are deceptively attractive but very short on detail. He is a persuasive speaker, but lacks experience of running (or participating in the running of) any organisation. Could he get enough colleagues to work with him? Could he get elected as PM? There must be huge doubts, given the conservative (with a small 'c') inclination of the electorate (or those that count in the key marginals). Politics is the art of the possible, and nothing is possible if you don't get in in the first place.

The history of nationalised industries in Britain has in the main been a sorry one - a tale of slow decline. How would Corbyn run them differently? For my part I'd sooner see a new government work up a scheme whereby they compete some of the corporate (and largely foreign-owned) public service companies into the sidings. Perhaps this could be done by use of 'mutual' business structures, and suitable incentives to public-interest start-up companies with more enlightened policies in regard to worker conditions and rewards. The tightrope to be trod would be avoiding EU strictures on state aid and unfair competition, but it's surely worth some thought?

Corbyn makes a fair point when he says austerity doesn't work - declining tax revenues leading to chasing your own tail, and all that. But the amount of GDP consumed in interest payments means a balance has to be struck somewhere. We need clever economists to do the maths. Throwing austerity through the window sounds attractive, but it isn't that simple. Ask Mr Tsipras.

If Blair came from nowhere (PM was the only ministerial position he ever held) and won three elections, then there's clearly room for someone else to emerge. I'd love this to be someone with the vision, common sense and charisma that Keir Starmer possesses. He would be electable, but isn't standing this time. With Dan Jarvis at his right hand, there could be an identifiable succession, and one that might make more appeal to the electorate than the current uninspiring bunch.

 

Would seem to be a breathe of fresh air to me. Returning the Labour Party to what it was set up to be. A politician more interested in principles than furthering his own career. The Conservative Lite approach failed completely in the last election so going for someone who actually has ideas and beliefs rather than just another career politician seems the right approach.

THe 'damage' to Labour's electability is being overstated by the right wing press scared of someone challenging the greed is good hegemony. Some slightly left of centre supporters may be alienated some lost supporters to The Greens/UKIP may be recovered. Similar policies have certainly not condensed the SNP to electoral defeat.

 

Have you read some of the policy's? They are more true to labour than that male version of thatcher was ...

 

erm - what he's offering is socialism - the thing that Labour is supposed to be about.

If you don't want what he's offering you shouldn't be voting Labour from what I understand of the differing philosophies of the parties.

Polotics shouldn't be about abandoning your principles to win elections - it should be about letting the electorate decide on the way they should be governed.

Frankly we've had various shades of Tory since 1979. Corbyn's election may make the Labour movement realise it has been dead for 35 years and the country simply doesn't want this philosophy any more. Maybe then all the career politicians in the Labour party shoudl go to the Liberals whose base philosophy is much closer to Blairism and we'll have much more honest politics and a real chance of social democracy taking a leading role in governing the country.

 

I like him. He speaks my politics it seems.

He does remind me of a university lecturer though.

 

Yup, sums up my feelings perfectly.