Could somebody explain why Corbyn shouldn't be voted for as Labour party leader?

squidzin and the EU? I am probably more scared about how that referendum goes than anything at the moment.

I agree - Reagan is not in charge any more. Obama has restored diplomatic links with Cuba, would never have gone to war in Iraq, legalised gay marriage, revolutionised health care for millions of low paid Americans, and is talking peace with Iran. If it wasn't for the diplomatic coordination of the U.S., Blair and the EU we may never have had the Good Friday Agreement.

Posted too soon phone!

Strags, personally,
1 i think we should stay in NATO but willing to overlook JCs position on that one, as it's unlikely we will actually pull out with such pressures/good reason to stay.

JC sounds consistent because he has the same views now that he espoused in the 1970s , he hasn't moved on at all . Now some would say that's good because he has stuck to his beliefs , others would say that it's bad because the world has moved on and he hadn't adapted.

To be honest I doubt his critical thinking skills , rabidly sticking to your cause is fine in a protest vote way but a leader of a party , a leader of the opposition , needs to be able to crucially evaluate situations and apply a political philosophy to them. I am simply not convinced that he had the intellectual wherewithal to do this.For example he is anti American , he may have a point about this , I certainly have concerns about the way America conducts itself however that needs to be seen I a wider context , you can't oppose everything America does simply because it's American .

1. What's good about pulling out of NATO?
2. Are you committed to the EU?
3. is it better to keep your principles and stay out of government while the Tories slash the state, pull us out of the EU/the Human Rights Act, privatise our schools and hospitals, sell off our court buildings/forests/BBC?
4. How will quantitative easing work in practice for state investment?

Pull the other one

Haha Yvette Cooper. Do me a favour. You're avin a laugh.

JC for leader Tom Watson for deputy. and I'm a feminist.

I don't want to have to listen to smarmy Tories like Matthew Hancock on the Today programme for 10 more years, dodging questions about cuts to education, especially sixth forms and careers services, demoralised teachers and overcrowded classrooms. Labour under Blair spent years trying to repair schools in a shocking state, reducing class sizes and attracting teachers back into education. That's all going into reverse now, but will it be for 5 years or 10/15 years?

She does have more female speech style traits compared to Jeremy, who is very confident in what he believes - so she sounds more cautious, less self-assured: 'I can't bear to see that happen,' 'I am really worried', 'I don't think people want that'. Unlike Andy Burnham or Jeremy she feels uncomfortable trumpeting 'and I am the person to lead the country', even if she is, because it sounds vain and pompous. She qualifies it with 'I think I have the best chance of holding party together'. And she is damned right.

Given another global financial meltdown, with politicians working through the night before the stock markets are due to open, I can only imagine Yvette Cooper at that desk, with the grit and determination to sort out a crisis. And she is principled: she said clearly that she can't stand up in the shadow cabinet or country and argue for policies she doesn't believe in.

She also made statements on values, strategy and policies I think are true:

• Britain has become so divided, power is held by the Tory elite, half the world wealth is in the hands of the top 1% now more than ever
• there is a serious risk the party will split or polarise under Jeremy
• the electorate isn't demanding energy privatisation when there are immediate priorities such as welfare support, children's services, the NHS, etc. (And I'd add: if she had to answer Louise Mensch regarding Labour supported universal Child Benefit, how is Jeremy going to justify abolishing university tuition fees for the very rich?)
• the Chilcott report has been delayed for far too long - we were wrong over Iraq - not just about WMD but the wider strategy
• Jeremy is right on the importance of many issues, e.g. homelessness and human rights, but not all of his solutions
• a feminist approach to economics - not just putting money into transport but supporting parents and especially women to build up their careers as engineers (and many other new industries)
• the implication of losing elections and leaving the Tories in power is that current five-year-olds will be spending all their childhood and possibly whole school life under a Tory government. (With all that entails - the cuts, inequality of admissions, lack of qualified teachers, and lower standards for building, food, support services, etc.)
• in a different interview she spoke about strong international cooperation and influence over climate change, and being part of NATO and the EU. This is the biggest worry I have about Jeremy - I am really not confident whether his foreign policy is stuck in the 1980s because the world really has changed.

Although obviously I feel sorry for her, given what you posted above. Doesn't mean she should be allowed to run the country.

Straggle, Yvette Cooper had a great deal more than 10 seconds on Newsnight. She was interviewed by Kirsty Wark, who asked her serious questions. The best she could come up with was that stuff about boy's toys. It was truly cringeworthy. If she were like that in the House, she would be a laughing stock.

It's as much about personality as politics

The reason Jeremy Corbyn sounded so fresh is precisely because it was NOT about personality but the fact that he was giving straight answers, avoiding soundbites (although I've heard 'I don't do abuse' a tad too often now) and setting out his ideas and policies thematically. On further consideration I think his foreign policy is wrong and his economic policy of quantitative easing unrealistic - Yvette Cooper has addressed those very points. He has been saying similar things for 30 years but it sounds new because we are in the media-managed age of memes and soundbites.

While he has been sympathetically filmed in rallies, giving long interviews to Andrew Marr and the rest of it, Yvette manages to grab ten seconds on the BBC to say 'it's cars and trains, boys' toys' before everyone rushes to Twitter to condemn her for soundbites. Yet she has spoken for hours in Parliament without anyone bothering to listen. This is the quickest example but she is really good at slapping down the Tories:

I'm as guilty as any for not bothering to read Hansard every day, but parliament is where stuff happens, it's where the law that changes our lives gets made and amended. I want a good competent shadow cabinet team led by an experienced ex-minister, who can say those interesting things on complex technical subjects in committees, ministerial meetings, European summits, etc., not a campaign group led by a backbencher who has not taken on any ministerial responsibility in 32 years. Has he even sat on any committees? Our laws in his hands...

Can't argue with that didyouwritethe.

Politics is interesting when you've actually got something to say, Vivienne. the problem is that so many Labour politicians have no idea what they're meant to say. Contrast the SNP.

Viviennemary exactly, it's like a right-on lecture you don't want to hear.

'Surprised she got so far in politics, then'

Yes, I don't think she will get far as mayoral candidate, too goody-goody for the rough and tumble of it.

Hope Yvette gets it. Be great if the labour party had a bright, female leader. She is a hard working mum & I hate how the press tries to reduce her to Mrs Balls, so patronising. I think she's tough and could present a challenge to the current Tory party which is what we need, all those public school boys don't seem able to handle a bright comprehensively educated woman hence the red faced ' calm down dear' to Angela Eagle. I would love PMQ time if she got it.

Surprised she got so far in politics, then.

Yvette Coooper reminds me of a schoolteacher who as soon as she walks in the room you wish the lesson was over. Because you won't want to listen to anything they have to say. Boring boring boring. At least Liz Kendall has some life about her. It's as much about personality as politics. Something Labour doesn't seem to have caught up with yet.

You're right about Tessa. I think she has alway been like that.

Tessa Jowell is painfully snoring-boring on Press Preview. I don't know if her speech has slowed down or if she's always been like that.

Tessa Jowell will be on the Sjy Press Review at 10.30 pm and 11.30 pm tonight. A while back on that show, she was not very complimentary about Corbyn. I bet she will have changed her tune now.

I agree, BabyGanoush, good points

I don't like how Yvette Cooper uses the 'I'm a woman" card when it suits her (ie time to choose a woman, or something like that). Interestingly Thatcher never made a point out of being a woman or asked for special sympathy.

To me she comes across as weak. No leadership material. And that's not because she is a woman.

Also don't like her personal attacks.

I hope JC stays out of all the mud slinging.

As to everyone who says JC will split the party...no, it's the Blairites who would split the party if their democratically elected leader does not suit them!

The way I see it is that Yvette is coming across as desperate and unconvincing, Burnham is trying to be everybody's mate and is insisting he has nothing to do with the Westminster elite, Liz Kendall is coming across well with a good sense of humour and a 'warm-heartd tough cookie' who is not a party robot, and Corbyn is a Gandhi-like figure who just floats above it all saying "we do not do personal abuse".

There are still 4 weeks to go. There is time for more people to get desperate (e.g.. Blair, Brown, Campbell and every former bigwig in the hierarchy) and for Corbyn to chill out even more than he is doing now.