Lefties 9: This will succeed through its success

[taffetacat]

Is everyone on Twitter now?

helloo place marking

at life peers - I've misunderstood, haven't I?

Also marking place darn these real-life weekendy things getting in the way!

My Thatcherite mother likes Ed. That is probably not a good recommendation.

Creation of peers always seems like that card game Cheat, where cheating is the proper way of going about things, I don't understand it. I don't understand how it can be proper for someone to be parachuted into a ministerial career like Adonis without any election. And vitally I don't remotely understand how a government can just be allowed to go about profound parliamentary and electoral reform of any sort without some sort of systematic constraint - say, a reference to higher constitutional principles, or a cross-party commission, or even judicial contraint: would the Human Rights Act for e.g. be a judicial standard against which reforms could be judged???

Watching George Osbourne raises my blood pressure

He has no clue what he is doing. Why is he so convinced he knows what to do? What exactly is he basing his policy on? He is scaremongering to the point of embarrassment now.

And don't get me on the peer creation - the Lib Dems are totally finished if they do not block that.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Ewe I think Harriet Harman ruled herself out of running.

LeninGrad I was also quite shocked on zero reaction to CGT.

Prolesworth I think doing away with unelected peers was only a dream.

Agree about outrage and froth about jokey note.

Budgetary office thingy is DC's freedom for the B of E moment, isn't it?I think there's a joke in there about history, repeats, farce, Tony Blair and stuff, but I just can't quite raise my spirits enough to make it.

Is it a bad thing? why? I'm joining you in the I-want-someone-to-explain -this-to-me corner, Prolesworth.

Am no doubt being very tribal, partisan, etc. etc. but I do think that the jokey note even made it into the press is scarily ridiculous. That some people seem to think this is of any importance and relevance to real life grown up government is wearisome. Apparently Alistair Darling left a bottle of hard liquor for Osborne .

Don't know about the budgetary what's-its-name, isn't Osborne saying it is good as will be impartial and realistic? Or have I got that confused with something else?

Policywonk get off twitter, we need you to do your cbeebies style explanations please...

Beachcomber - indeed re. news story.

prolesworth - yes to living wage but have you noticed he's nodding to immigration fears and benefit envy?

Immigration is, indeed v. v. tricky. Did you read that report about a month ago suggesting that, in the main it is areas that haven't experienced immigration significantly (with two exceptions) that get most vexed? Indicating that so much of the fear around immigration is just that - fear.

Which isn't to say that it's not a real issue for working class. And will be more so if globalisation goes in the direction it's expected to go in. (I'm expecting claig to turn up now!) I'm out as being pro-Open Borders but I have friends who aren't, and they're thoughtful people.

Benefit envy just scares me.

Ed does talk sense but I need to see him giving a speech I think before I can have much of an opinion on him.

Sorry nowt to do with all this but am listening to my DDs (3 and 6) singing Frere Jaques together in their bunk beds and it is the cutest, Frenchist thing you could imagine.

Immigration/benefit stuff is scary but complicated. Shouldn't ever be presented as black and white.

Ah! I see you were saying EM is saying that the right-wing scare-mongering, rather than immigration itself, has had an effect on the working class. Fair enough.

I do wonder how they are going to deal with that. What are my worries? It's a really complicated issue, and I wonder how much it gets flattened in the public spaces. And I really worry that any discussion of it by the Left runs the risk of legitimating something that can descend into racism, and divisiveness.

So, hmmm, I suppose just stand back and watch how it's dealt with.

Re. benefit envy - have you noticed the flowering of threads on mn inciting b.e.-based outrage at middle class recipients of benefit envy. I'm finding it interesting.