Westminsterenders: Talent or Colour

[FishesaPlenty]

RTB and BCF are presumably busy with more important things. I'm clearly not qualified to start a Westminsterenders thread - but somebody has to take control and collect the waifs and strays.

The party of no talent want to introduce no colour into our lives.

6 days to the election.

Johnson is still a liar.

Corbyn is still apparently loved by Labour members and hated by everyone else.

Swinson is still a charming PTA chair.

Cat dragging out Christmas decorations to show who they belong to

We have some felt gingerbread men on our tree. As I unpacked them, I explained their slightly ragged, chewed appearance to my 11 year old - our late Siamese used to climb the tree to get at them and then ‘kill’ them mouse-style. I can’t bear to part with them, as getting them out of the box each year reminds me of the ‘beast’ (very noisy chocolate point, absolutely bonkers). He died when DS was 3 months old. 😞

I'm sure bots would be able to access all these varied cat pictures and gardens at different stages of the year

I think Im probably the only paid up member of Momentum on these threads and anyone who shows any support for any left policy its strangely 'Labour members' and Tory bots that come out with the insults that people are Momentum bots or Corbynites when theyre not agreed with, weird that

bloody hate the divisiveness that has been a result of the referendum, the 'ooh let's go and spark up the other place' shit.

I've just posted this on the latest Brexit arms thread. It wont make any difference, of course, but I just needed to say it, there and here.

Loving the cats.

Well I used to sing Red Flag in the 70s and 80s with my TU leader dad at the end of the Labour party conferences but hey you do not believe I am real. Perhaps on the 12th of December you will.

boatyardblues - none of the 6 Siamese we've had over the years has climbed the tree - although these two thieves do like to attack the collection soft toys/Santas/penguins (etc) that I put out on the stairs to our "main" floor and then drag them around the house, so that we find them in strange places

I also make sure that all the decorations within a stretchy cat's reach on the lower half of our (large, real) tree are non-breakable

Longterm Labour members would have been singing the Red Flag at conference every year until - iirc Blair ? - stopped a tradition going back to the founding of the party

And as for "Mo bots" 🤦🏻‍♀️
Despite Poster's best - but rather lonely - efforts, she's only got about 2 other occasional Corbyn fans on Westministenders

Cat dragging out Christmas decorations to show who they belong to

Our old Tortie used to climb the Christmas tree every year, every year the tree would fall over, and every year she’d casually stroll away from the mess with that “oh yeah, that always happens” look.

Perhaps on the 12th of December you will.

Ooo Blairite Santa bringing us depleted uranium shells and neo liberalism

Yyyyyyaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!

What is the purpose of Momentum?

Do they want to idolise Corbyn, lose an election for their principles or what?

What about our country? Help me understand please.

James Melville
@jamesmelville

On Twitter

'Former Conservative Party Chairman, Chris Patten on Boris Johnson:

“If the Prime Minister tells the truth it's probably by accident. He's lied his way through life. He's lied his way through politics. He would be an extraordinarily bad choice."'

I have a feeling I am going to be stoned from the 13th onwards.

If someone was happy to sing the Red Flag all those years and claims to like most of the Labour policies,
then why does a rather dim & tired 70-yr-old matter so much, especially as he will likely be stepping down within months anyway

Is the Tory media's Bogeyman so much more scary than 5 years of the most hard right Tory party in modern history ?

What is the purpose of Momentum?

Momentum is nothing more than a group of activists who help Labour candidates campaign on the ideals of progressive politics and motivate young people to help out in their communities.

Because the majority is quite young their social media game is strong and helps get the message out to voters that do not/will not engage with the traditional forms of media

In the 90s I was living in my own home, singing Red Flag occasionally at TV, but not same without my lovely Dad by my side.

Anyway to quote a Smiths song "If they don't believe me now, will they ever believe me?" Good luck guys, I actually want so many things that you want too, I hope for better times soon.

5/6 of our Siameses were tree wreckers. The lardy lilac girl was the only one who didn’t trash it and that was more down to laziness IMO. It was good to be able to start putting the glass decorations up again. #silver linings

The leaders’ debate was rage-inducing. I got to a point where I couldn’t watch any more & bowed out circa the anti-semitism question. Corbyn was the better prepared and more cogent of the two IMO.

lose an election for their principles or what?

Centrists (sorry BCF you know I love you loads) you need to come to terms with the fact neo liberalism is in its last throws of death, and as Gordon Brown has come out and said recently that its a failed project and its brought us to were we are today, Corbyn and Momentum are a response to the inequality the young are feeling thanks to being fucked over for the love of profit by............'centrists'

JustAnotherPoster00

I think it is more than that. Otherwise Corbyn would have been replaced by someone like Kier Starmer by now.

But no. Corbyn is the saviour. He is not for most of us, but for Momentum he certainly is.

Cannot get my head around the Corbyn Cult that might lead to defeat. But anyway.

Outsomnia

Momentum was founded by Jon Lansman after the defeat of Ed Miliband as an organisation to gather together members that would support a broadly-based Leftist direction within Labour.

Initially, it was not a part of the Labour Party - although it now is affiliated to the Labour Party and it's members are now Labour Party members.

Lansman was helped in the establishment of Momentum by [James Schneider??? I forget] and consequently a large part of the initial membership was drawn from pre-existing groups out with traditional Parties such as the Stop the Cuts organisation.

Members were also drawn from the Green Party and climate activism, from people who had left the Labour Party over the Iraq War, existing Labour Party members, and other groups.

Whilst some may well be from groups that were banned from Labour Party membership, many were and are not.

The group is a broadly left coalition, with a strong emphasis on education, outreach and activism.

It's not a homologous mass - for example, it's quite split in the issue of Brexit.

Is it a Corbyn cult? Well, I guess we'll see if/when Corbyn steps down.

Certainly, Lansman hopes it will continue as an organisation providing support for a Leftist agenda within the Labour Party.

I didn't watch the leaders' debate at all. I can't bear the sound of Bozo going wiffle waffle lies lies more lies Get Brexit Done.

Just piss off you twat.

Outsomnia Labour would obviously not change their leader before the GE
So Momentum are trying to avoid a Tory majority, just like LDs, Greens and any Remainers who aren't true-blue Tories

The battle about JC needs to be fought after the GE; totally pointless now

It wasn't Momentum who elected Corbyn leader; it was the a majority of the Labour membership who did so
Democracy sucks sometimes, but Labour couldn't just ignore the large majority he won in 2 leadership campaigns

What worries me is that they'll claim their policies weren't defeated, but that the likely defeat was only due to the disloyalty of the Labour PLP

• tbh, the PLP attempts to get rid of him didn't weaken him in the party, just in the country

Certainly, Lansman hopes it will continue as an organisation providing support for a Leftist agenda within the Labour Party.

Corbyn is just the vehicle promising that, hes finally pulled the overton window back to the left in the PLP and Corbyn has finally made the PLP answerable to its constituents again unlike the Blair years and thats why the right of the PLP were shitting it they thought they had a job for life when that should be down to the CLP not the party

That's a very fair summing up, BigChoc.