If the choice was Reform in government or work with the Tories, I’d take the latter. Of course, if the Tories refused, that would mean they’re essentially backing Reform, in which case: fuck them.

Well, exactly!

By suspending their councillor for stopping Reform, they’re aligning themselves with fascists. I don’t like or agree with Conservatism, but it is better than fascism. The Conservatives on this council seem to have realised that and shouldn’t be punished for doing the right thing.

Conservatives dead wrong on this. They should work to block Reform wherever they can. Damning indictment that they won’t!

I’m all for the republican front on this: work with anyone against Reform/Restore.

Labour leadership elections are conducted using preferential voting, so vote splitting shouldn’t be a problem.

NHS England is the oversight body. They’re not abolishing the NHS.

Yeah, I doubt he’ll be able to convince enough of the PLP to not have to go to the membership, where he would lose.

Of course, since I’m a member of the party, this puts me in the potentially invidious position of having to actively vote for Starmer over Streeting in such a contest. Yeesh.

For the record, it wasn’t me who removed your comment.

It’s enough to make me think the Greens are onto something with their co-leadership model. Maybe we should have more of a Swiss-style thing, where the equivalent of the Cabinet collectively takes on the executive role, so you don’t get one weird stubborn person blocking up the whole government.

Yeah, I’m inclined to agree. Maybe not the very worst, but he’s in the bottom one.

And we’re back to the insults. Have a good one.

seemingly

The only reason it ‘seems’ to you that I haven’t done any research is that I disagree with you, and you think that must mean I’m ignorant. That is of course true of some people who disagree with you, but it’s arrogant and counter-productive to assume it. You don’t know what I’ve read and what I haven’t read, or indeed what I think about virtually anything.

Dismissing these claims because they’re made by ‘mainstream media’ (an ill-defined term) even though Polanski has apologised for his actions and thereby acknowledged the veracity of the accusations is just nonsensical. What I see in Polanski is a guy who makes inaccurate, self-aggrandising statements and then lies more when called out. The press are reporting on the fact that he does it, and that he keeps doing it. You may feel it’s worth voting for him anyway; that’s your prerogative. But facts are facts.

Something you could reasonably say is: ‘He shouldn’t have done that and it worries me that it’s becoming a pattern but he’s a damn sight less corrupt and evil than Nigel Farage*. His politics are basically aligned with mine, I think his heart’s in the right place and this doesn’t change my overall view of him’.

What you can’t say is, ‘None of these things that this guy acknowledged happened and apologised for count/are real because I read about some of them in the Guardian’. That doesn’t make sense.

*Links because you seem to believe the ‘mainstream’ press doesn’t report on right-wing corruption and this also… isn’t true.

Sheep rustling is such an old-school crime. It’s like being a train robber or a highwayman.

if it can scale

This is the question. If it can get close to plastic levels of price and quantity, it will take over. If it’s too expensive, it won’t happen.

There’s this bit in the Indian epic poem the Mahabharata where the hero, Yudhishtira, is gambling away his family’s kingdom. He knows what’s happening, he knows he should stop and he also knows that he just can’t stop. The Labour party right now reminds me of Yudhishtira: compelled, for reasons neither they nor anyone else understand, to embark on a path of self-destruction.

If all you’ve got left are these false and petty insults I think we’re done here.

Well, someone’s trying, so we won’t have to wait too long to find out!

Journalist doing their job is the most likely explanation.

Streeting isn’t particularly popular among Labour members compared to others in the Cabinet. And that doesn’t include other potenial candidates outside the Cabinet.

Starmer is bad at the job. There are a great many MPs who’d do a better job. Burnham and Rayner, IMO the frontrunners, would both be preferable, as would Miliband.

I frequently share stories from media outside the mainstream on this very community.