Well done Labour NEC - Corbyn can stand

The NEC vote to bar members who joined since 12th January was entirely unconstitutional (both because it wasn't on their agenda, so several members left the meeting not knowing it was coming up, & because there's nothing about it on the Party website)

Last year I joined in June & voted in August & it should be the same this year.

The Party's behaviour has been disgraceful.

& then this, the following year

Re St Jeremy & Hamas & Israel

This story came up on my FB on On This Day today

doesn't it make you all rather angry with Israel?

The Labour Party is a party of its members, not of 172 Oxbridge, privately educated middle class spinners

You seriously think that all the 172 neatly fit into your box. I suggest you actually look into the backgrounds of them.

It is fascinating how often people accused of spewing bile and other similarly floridly negative phrases are, when one investigates closely simply saying something another person doesn't like and can't find a lucid argument against.

Yes, I absolutely agree with you Banana.

I don't completely disagree with the points you're making, oldbirdy, and I am aware that I am not as well informed as I could/should be about the Kosovo War. However, I think I am correct in saying that no UN resolution mandated that war, meaning that it was not legal. It's possible that the perceived success of a supra-legal intervention in Kosovo emboldened Blair and his followers and contributed to the disaster in Iraq. The consequences of disregarding the rule of law may not be immediately apparent. Anyway, the point I am making is that the Kosovan intervention was, and is, morally controversial. Corbyn was not necessarily wrong to oppose it, particularly in the light of what happened afterwards.

Re: the IRA, I think it is important to point out that Jeremy Corbyn did not support the bombing campaigns of the IRA. What he did do was make some ill-advised nostalgia-infused comments at various commemorative meetings. A bad, bad thing to do, but this is not the same as being an active supporter.

flowers, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. are not Jeremy Corbyn's friends, they are organisations with which he thinks it is important to have a dialogue. Many eminent statesmen (including Blair) have said that, in the business of peace-making, there comes a time when it is necessary to talk to terrorists.

I don't understand what you are getting at here: StopTheWar - which he led for a long time - is in favour (despite its name) of murdering "men, women and children" "in flagrant disregard for international law" ie "simply brutal vigilanti sm" - when those men, women and children live in Israel. Please can you explain this, flowers?

Exactly - how can Jeremy object to wars designed to take out terrorists yet support terrorist groups that deliberately repeatedly target and murder civilians?

How can anyone think he is on the Good side?

lljkk - do you also support terrorists? What about you claig?

I was recently accused of spewing bile by a relative. Which caused me to raise an eyebrow and be quite startled because all I had done was politely and clearly express a difference of opinion and say I was saddened by the rise in racist incidents since Brexit.

It is fascinating how often people accused of spewing bile and other similarly floridly negative phrases are, when one investigates closely simply saying something another person doesn't like and can't find a lucid argument against.

..and UK bombers didn't deliberately target civilians, unlike the IRA. I'm not suggesting Iraq was justified, it clearly wasn't and has been proven to have been illegal. But there is no 'St Jeremy.'

What do you think his "friends" Hamas and Hezbollah do? What about his great mate Putin? What do you think his lovely Holocaust-denying friend is in favour of? Or his mates in Iran - great Western ideals do they have?

Know a man by the company he keeps.

lazycake we were talking about Corbyn in Kosovo where there is now acknowledged to have been genocide esp against Muslims and Corbyn voted against that - and his sidling up with the IRA, who IIRC had a good line in using bombs against inncoent men, women and children as well.

I don't buy that simply because he made a good call on Iraq, he is therefore morally unblemished.

LazyCake - StopTheWar - which he led for a long time - is in favour (despite its name) of murdering "men, women and children" "in flagrant disregard for international law" ie "simply brutal vigilanti sm" - when those men, women and children live in Israel.

The idea that pacifism is of itself morally superior is nonsense. Agreed.

we all have a moral duty to support the weak when they are being attacked. Yes, but when that support involves dropping bombs on men, women and children, and is done in flagrant disregard for international law, it is simply brutal vigilantism.

And what hatred does Corbyn spew about Israel? Israel has long been acting in contravention of international law, and deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms possible. There are many pressure groups and campaigners within Israel itself who would agree with this.

I voted for him because I'm a Tory.
I got my vote because I'm a member of UNITE.
Not all trade unionists are socialists.

lljkk - I think Corbyn got a very narrow majority of members at the last leadership election but I know many who voted for him then who wouldn't now. People were prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt because those he stood against were all same old, same old. But he is far worse than even those tired old politicians.

Agree absolutely oldbirdy - I don't think Corbyn can claim any moral high ground at all and I find it bizarre his supporters try to.

The idea that pacifism is of itself morally superior is nonsense - we all have a moral duty to support the weak when they are being attacked and deciding to leave them to deal with being massacred on their own is an abdication of our responsibility. And the hatred he spews about Israel is really vile. He is not remotely a nice man.

I thought there was careful analysis that showed that Corbyn had massive support even among the members who paid full whack (£60 like I did). Corbyn would have won without the £3 members (or am I wrong?).

I think OyWithThePoodles was pointing out that, even if the £3 registered supporters had been excluded from the 2015 election, Corbyn still would have won, on the basis of votes from established members.

I meant the £3 voters who voted him in as leader initially yes.

Corbyn could never win a general election. As a Tory I welcome his success