To be put off labour by all the bitching

[SouthWestmom]

Seriously, I just don't have any respect for a party where they are all briefing against each other (well, jeremy) - rolling out Gordon to try to put everyone off?

I voted for Corbyn and Tom Watson for deputy. I think the others would say anything to get into power whereas he will accept responsibility if it is asked of him. I don't agree with everything he says, far from it, but I do think he is the best chance of exposing the tories for what they are.

Everyone knows what they are. The problem in the general election was the lack of credible alternative.
Jc isn't going to change that.

And that rhetoric is all lovely, but it's not helping me mark my paper....

It must have been annoying today for Yvette Cooper to be accused of dirty tricks straight out of her husband's handbook when maybe it was she egged him on.

I am not a daily commuter, but I have to say the East Coast Mainline was superior to all the other lines even for travellers while it was nationalised.

Many posts ago :

Sorry, Limited. It's like an errant adult child!

I vote YABU, actually. I like the mutual criticisms. So far they have kept to the right side of civilised for me, I don't want nicey nicey stuff.

The Labour leader candidates started out very gentlemanly with each other which was fair enough to show they were decent human beings, but really, against Cameron in the dispatch box I want to see fearlessness about putting the boot in. If they can't do it now to show how hungry they are to win then can they really do it on behalf of the party in a sustained way over the next 4-5 yrs?

If Corbyn wins I predict he'll be out on his ear within 2 yrs. Which will nicely set up a fresh new leader to take on Osborne (assuming DC still steps down end of this Parliament as he said he intends to). Corbyn showed little respect for towing the party line when he wasn't in leader, he won't get MPs who tow the line for him, either.

I've just learned Jeremy Corbyn was given the Ghandi Peace Award in 2013 [impressed]

Dunno why his team didn't promote this - well, I suppose I can guess he doesn't indulge in boasting? [starstruck]

This guy is definitely not your average politician. Which goes some way to explaining why the average ones are nervous.

Trout - as far as I'm aware, Corbyn hasn't said he wants to be PM. All he's said is that he wants to establish "a new kind of politics" - hang on, I'll fetch me leaflet ...

"A more inclusive, less top-down, kinder politics. A politics that sets out a route to a more prosperous future in which no-one is left behind." Then a paragraph about connecting people, giving a voice to those who feel disenfranchised. With "straight-talking, honest politics."

I'm very interested to see how he develops over the next four years. Corbyn now would be a risky PM. I rather suspect he could be the only choice by 2020, if he can secure his party's trust.

if he can secure his party's trust.

Therein lies the problem.

Thing is - if he does as well as expected in the leadership contest, then the party will be turning its back on a massive support base if it continues to reject his approach. I'm surprised it seems so willing to do that. Presumably it wants a lot more people engaging with, and voting for, Labour.

If the party indicates it only wants members seeking a watery version of Tory, then it'll lose a lot of long-term supporters as well as all the excited Corbynistas. It's the party's choice, of course, but it leaves us scattered once again.

This thought makes me quite cross: the two main parties fighting over a shrinking 'aspirational' sector, while the majority of the electorate gets to choose between a handful of small, weak & inexperienced parties. It's not properly democratic.

I thought the same Garlick, I actually thought the last election was there for the taking if Labour had challenged the myth that they were profligate and responsible for the financial crash. They will be idiotic if they just chase the tories further to the right at a time when people are crying out for change.

The conservatives didn't romp home, they were voted for by people who benefit directly because they are in power or were scared into thinking they benefit.

I actually thought the last election was there for the taking if Labour had challenged the myth that they were profligate and responsible for the financial crash. They will be idiotic if they just chase the tories further to the right at a time when people are crying out for change.

YYY! I shouted at Ed On The Telly more than a few times "Just say it, Ed! Tell 'em!"

It's so illogical, I'm leaning further towards the idea that financial big cheeses have got something over nearly all the mainstream politicians :(
The only alternative explanation is that they're not interested in what voters think ... which kind of renders them unfit for purpose.

It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that politics has changed in the past 50 years (reference to my previous point about diversity of opinions).

It remains to be seen whether the Tory victory of 2015 was a rally for them, or the political equivalent of the bumper fish crops enjoyed in Newfoundland just before cod went extinct there ...

Ha, good analogy.

I liked Ed, I really did, but I agree he just needed to say it.

In my more paranoid moments I convince myself it's all just a pantomime for our benefit to convince us we are living in a democracy...

In light of what is happening to Cameron, would you still classify the Labour leadership debate as bitching or was that just a polite discussion in comparison?

DAMMIT! !! Came on here expecting some hilarious story about niggling birthparters in the delivery room but noooo..... more political guff