Remarkable Corbyn, successful Corbyn, socialist Corbyn lasted nearly 5 years - unbelievable!!

4 April 2020

Remarkable Corbyn, successful Corbyn, socialist Corbyn lasted nearly 5 years - unbelievable!!

How did he do it?  A man of the people, comforting the Grenfell survivors; standing up at PMQs for that workhorse and kingpin of transport modes - the bus; railing against all our many wars in foreign lands down the decades.

He skillfully steered a middle course over the Brexit shambles realising that his party was riven down the middle with pro and anti-Europeans.  The Brexit General Election was his undoing because he tried to be democratic, principled and wanted to give his party and the nation a final say in what should be done.  But the irrational, impatient electorate had had enough of all the shilly-shallying and simply wanted out after three and a half years of indecision.  Should he simply have seen the mood of the electorate for out and simply advised out and campaigned for out?  Would that have meant a much closer fight between Johnson and him last December?

He wanted massive spending to end austerity and to put things right for the poor, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable.  Ironically, spending is now happening with Covid-19 but not to build that fairer, more equal and sustainable society that should be everyone's top priority.

For me, he was the best Labour leader I have seen and probably the best since Keir Hardie.

--

MY PHOTOS: what you see described by one person as 'bizarre'; another called it 'bonkers':

Wasted 56 Kms from Stourbridge Jct to Burton on Trent on the ready built, but only half used, 120 Kms Worcester to Derby principal mainline railway:MISSION STATEMENT

Burton to Bristol via Brierley Hill; Derby to Devon via Dudley - by TRAIN not "bus on rails" trams as they are wanting; nor with new extended cycle-walkway, as volunteers are working on!

 

ASSORTED PROPAGANDA- don't get corrupted:

W Mids Metro means a slower and longer journey for bus users and other road users.

It means more train overcrowding with trams being the second most expensive mode after HS2, diverting money away from reinstating TRAINS on railway lines.

More clogged streets and more changes on the Worcester to Black Country to Derby principal mainline railway.

£1.5 BILLION of Metro trams for five extensions to 2026 does NOT build a more sustainable society.

Metro tram billions add to austerity, to poverty and greenhouse gases to turn planet earth into uninhabitable venus, our 'twin' and sister planet.

Apparently, billions spent to boost greenhouse gases to get us out of the second most important international alliance after the UN, as the planet both burns and floods!!  The housing crisis, social care/NHS cuts, education cuts.  BUT, spending on armaments has gone up to 2% of GNP.  A negligent, incompetent and foolish government.  Nothing quite like ecocide, courtesy of the Queen and Her Majesty's Gone out of their mind, so called, 'government'!

Tim Weller   Prospective Independent candidate for W Mids Metro Mayor 2021 to instil some urgency into how changes in transport, jobs and housing policy can reduce the impact of human climate breakdown and postpone Attenborough's "collapse of civilisations" and "extinction of much of the natural world" and "time is running out" warnings.

For a more sensible, cost effective and easier ways to reduce congestion and pollution.  Fareless, electric buses for ALL; not for the few, like me!  To free up road space for essential users.  Paid for by abandoning Metro, diesel Sprint and CAZ.

written Oct 2016 re Jeremy Corbyn

Because of Scotland, they cannot hope to win under any leader, so they might just as well have a leader that is "decent, honest and principled", as everyone says he is.

from Stop the War Coalition

This week our Vice President and founder member Jeremy Corbyn has once again come under fire for standing up for peace. He said in relation to the war in Ukraine that...

"Pouring arms in isn’t going to bring about a solution, it’s only going to prolong and exaggerate this war...This war is disastrous for the people of Ukraine, for the people of Russia, and for the safety and security of the whole world, and therefore there has to be much more effort put into peace.”

 

He's right. And we must further his call for peace and negotiation.

Corbyn understood that he was got at ...

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2022/01/20/the-bbc-finally-admits-that-jeremy-corbyn-is-not-an-antisemite/

"One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media. That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated."

To many people this is stating the obvious. But Keir Starmer quickly suspended Corbyn. Many feel this move was less about antisemitism and more about purging the Labour left’s figurehead. 

Whether or not Reeves is ‘lying’ depends on how you interpret the findings of the EHRC report. It did find that:

there were unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination for which the Labour Party is responsible.

However, as Electronic Intifada reported:

But despite its 17-month investigation, the EHRC failed to find Labour guilty of “institutional anti-Semitism,” despite being asked to do so by two pro-Israel groups – the “Campaign Against Antisemitism” and the Jewish Labour Movement.

But the bigger issue in Reeves weaponising the report in this way is the serious shortcomings with the report in its methods and motivations.

As The Canary’s Emily Apple wrote in October 2020,

Any and all allegations of antisemitism must be taken seriously. And if the Labour Party is responsible for “harassment and discrimination” then this must be addressed. But here’s where there’s a fatal flaw. Because the report includes, quite rightly, “using antisemitic tropes” as an issue. But it then adds “suggesting that complaints of antisemitism were fake or smears” as an issue in its own right.

And she added:

This is hugely problematic and a massive Catch-22

Accepted uncritically

She explains many of the other key issues with the report. And she argues that with Corbyn’s suspension:

any whiff of this critical evaluation has been drowned out. The report’s headline findings are accepted uncritically and broadcast as fact, without nuance and closer examination. It’s marred by interference from the very lobby that the report says is antisemitic to accuse of involvement. This argument wouldn’t stand if the report had evidenced other examples of antisemitic behaviour. But it doesn’t.

And this is the key point. There seems to be no space, or effort, to evaluate the EHRC report or its outcomes. The truth is this lack of critical thought does nothing to fight the very real threat of antisemitism. And it’s high time Labour MPs stopped weaponising the EHRC report for their own goals.(The Canary)

Thanks for a good article on this subject. As it took about 6 months to remove a member of the panel of EHRC that had at least a ‘connection’ to the tory party, that should give pause for thought. And given other actions in their own organistaion regarding race bias, perhaps we need a repot into the EHRC. I have read around half of the report. The number of cases reported, and the number of cases ‘proven’, do not mathematically add up to Institutional Antisemitism,
That much is clear. So on that point Jeremy Corbyn was correct. And Rachel Reeves was wrong. Someone should ask her. BBC maybe?.
On another point, Jewish stakeholders were mentioned. It did not mention just one Jewish organistaion for consultation. But one Jewish organistaion thinks it represents all Jewish people in the UK.
It must be brought to somebody’s attention that this is not the case.
It is also pointed out, that more Jewish people have been expelled from the party since Mr Starmer took over. A bit ironic I would have thought ?. The report did mention the ‘imperfections’ of the IHRA definition also. And the fact t is not a legal document.
Increasingly, conflation of antisemitism and antizionism is being used deliberately to target people critical of Israel, including Jewish people. Diana Neslen and Naomi Idrisi Wimborne spring to mind, but there are many others.

Is it not time, that the term ‘anti-Semite’ was no longer used, to describe any action, which is anti-Jewish. It first came into use to implicitly only include Jews in 1879. As the Britannica encyclopedia notes; “Although the term now has wide currency, it is a misnomer, since it implies a discrimination against all Semites. Arabs and other peoples are also Semites, and yet they are not the targets of anti-Semitism as it is usually understood. The term is especially inappropriate as a label for the anti-Jewish prejudices, statements, or actions of Arabs or other Semites. Nazi anti-Semitism, which culminated in the Holocaust, had a racist dimension in that it targeted Jews because of their supposed biological characteristics—even those who had themselves converted to other religions or whose parents were converts. This variety of anti-Jewish racism dates only to the emergence of so-called “scientific racism” in the 19th century and is different in nature from earlier anti-Jewish prejudices.”
It is a pity, it then goes on using the term in the article, instead of anti-Jew or anti-Judaism. Especially as Judaism is a religion, not a race and not all Jews of Semite ethnicity. When academia and the mainstream media stop using the term, this would help stop the Zionist weaponising the term.

SELF: Corbyn understood that he was got at by those desperate to ensure he was done down by fair means or foul.  A compassionate, level-headed and out for peace with justice in a more equitable and socialist society.  He is a man for the people, a man of integrity who puts the poor before the rich.

Conservative cllr accepts Corbyn does not support terrorist violence

Nickerson’s apology said: “On 15 November 2021 a defamatory tweet, for which I accept full responsibility, was published on my Twitter account. The tweet targeted Jeremy Corbyn and included a fake photograph of him laying a poppy wreath at the site of a burning taxi outside the Liverpool Women’s hospital where a terror attack had taken place on Remembrance Sunday killing a suicide bomber and injuring others.

“The false photograph, captioned by the word ‘unsurprisingly’, gave the completely untrue impression that Jeremy Corbyn supports terrorist violence including suicide bombings, which without any hesitation I wholly accept he does not. Without reservation I fully withdraw any suggestion or inference that Jeremy Corbyn is a supporter of terrorist violence.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/23/tory-councillor-pays-jeremy-corbyn-damages-for-fake-liverpool-terror-tweet

NARROW MINDED TRADE UNIONS HAVE HELPED DESTROY RAILWAYS WITH THEIR TUNNEL VISION

I do support the Corbyn Project and do so like the man himself, although I am so disappointed by the trade unions in fully supporting the destruction of so many (about 100 Kms) of urban railway lines in the Black Country and Brum.  Especially the Burton on Trent to Bristol via Brierley Hill Mainline Railway, of course!  All the trade unions just love HS2 and tram projects for the work they give to their members and potential new ones.  Any deeper problems, as I have uncovered, just wash over them in blissful ignorance and complacency.    Tim

PS

By the way, I am now asking certain friends, if they feel able, to forward my reasons for saying HS2 and trams are highly over-stated, in fact, fraudulent claims, to their MP and their three councillors.  AIM: In the interests of reading the other side of the argument and in getting an alternative point of view.

CORBYN GOES TO COP 26 for his own four events

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is set to come to Scotland to hold an “alternative Cop26”.

Corbyn, through his Peace and Justice Project,  will hold four events, three in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh, between November 8 and November 11.

Among the events is a “climate justice cabaret”, bringing together musicians and artists, as well as a panel with trade union leaders and two in conversation-style events.

Code red for humanity

The Islington MP said he would look to “raise up the voices of others” during the tour.

The climate emergency is a ‘code red for humanity’, is a critical warning.

We need radical and rapid change to our dangerously broken and destructive political and economic system.

Our future is being stolen from under us by a coalition of big polluters and big banks, propped up by weak politicians too scared to take them on.

I can’t wait to be in Scotland during Cop26 to add my voice – and more importantly raise up the voices of others – to propose radical and rapid change.”

Linked crises

Corbyn added:

That change must be environmental but also social and economic. Our crises of inequality, climate, Covid-19 and democracy are all linked.

The climate is a class issue at home and an international justice for the world. Those who have done the least harm suffer the most and the first.

That’s why the demands of workers and the global south need to be at the centre of our campaign for climate justice.

Our events will raise their demands through talks and discussions as well as music and art from hugely talented performers.

Jeremy Vine and Peter Mandelson on Hartlepool

Mandelson on Labour's General Election record:

"Lost (79), lost (83), lost (87), lost (92), Blair (97), Blair (01), Blair (05), lost (10), lost (15), lost (17), lost (19)."

Vine on Labour's General Election record:

"Corbyn got more votes, as Labour leader, in 2019 than in any other General Election except 2017 when he was also the leader and did even better.  Therefore, his policies were more popular than any other Labour leader since the 2001 General Election."

STATS:

Hartlepool General Election Labour votes:

Blair 18,000

Brown 16,000

Milliband 14,000

Corbyn 22,000

Corbyn 15,500

Starmer 8,500

Corbyn on 10 May 2021 (Vine show on Radio 2) said:

"We lost 300 council seats last week.  My worst result was 18 seats lost.  I was undermined by Mandelson and others and contrition is required by Peter.

"My 10 m votes for Labour Party in 2019 was more than any other election since 2001.  The monstering of individuals in the party had an effect on the electorate.  I had 600,000 members join the party during my leadership.

"In 2005 we won on fewer votes than we achieved when we lost in 2019."

Electable leaders, UBI and Scottish independence

That all seems fair enough to me, Bob.  And also what Mike wrote, that was useful to know.  To get out of the production/consumption/consumerism treadmill of ever more from ever less, I like Universal Basic Income.  Any thoughts from anybody?

When you wrote, Labour's "own goal of not opposing Unionism in Scotland", do you mean the failure of Labour to support a second independence referendum if the SNP did well in May?  The double negative, I think, is best avoided.  From what I heard on the radio, I'm sure Corbyn did not rule out a second referendum over Independence for Scotland in one of his visits.  But he had to choose his words carefully, of course as he did over Brexit.  The problems of large parties with a diverse and wide range of opinions.

I thought that the right-wing British electorate was another factor in Labour's defeat.  Their leader was considered unelectable because, unlike Blair and Thatcher, whose wars he opposed, Corbyn was supporting conflict resolution and diplomacy and full UN agreement before going in with all guns blazing - and then, only as a very last resort.

For me, Brexit is turning out to be a nightmare and a folly.  Far more sensible to stay in and stick with majority decisions and to fight our corner in the EU.  Far less trouble, heartache and complications for everybody that also risks peace in N Ireland!  Cameron was a fool in giving the referendum with an oversimplified in/out choice with no caveats - like any change needing a clear 60% out vote.

People before Profit to save the people

Thanks Stuart. You are doing the right thing - fighting injustice and greed and obvious wrongdoing. Keep it up. Like fighting for care workers and nurses getting a much fairer share of the cake, as one railway union boss said he wanted to do in an interview I heard. But did he do so?

Am I right in thinking that the Heartlands porters strike was about changes in shifts/working patterns that must be resolved by talks?

Not military might but conflict resolution and diplomacy and talks ended the Troubles. 

If shareholders do so well, could the employees join in and use some of their savings to buy shares and make a nice profit?

Why not more workers control and co-operatives to show how it's done?

Corbyn and McDonnell had the right idea and I wanted them in government. Thanks for all you are doing on our behalf, Stuart. Tim

I hope Corbyn/McDonnell  would have sorted out the likes of Philip Green, Bridget. It needs political will, even today to end his inhumane conduct. Is there nothing that the authorities can do to extract money from him for workers' pensions?

WHAT IS LEFT IS STILL WORTH DOING!

But was Corbyn's unsought fall from grace fair on him?  Was the punishment proportionate and reasonable, especially when it is our opponents who have brought him down, aided by the very political party he has probably been a member of all his adult life?

Your minutes are very well and accurately composed.  Not too much but sufficient.  And helpfully laid out.  One small correction: it is 56 Kms, in the middle of the half-used 120 Kms, that are wasted, unused but was ready for passenger and freight trains until the present changes to have Metro "bus on rails" trams on 6.7 Kms.  Plus, 2 Kms test track for Very Light Rail and, Innovation Centre on the only feasible, former site for Dudley Castle Hill Railway station.

Dudley will now, permanently, be the largest town in the UK without a railway station - only a tram stop to shuttle passengers between the mainline railway to Worcester to the south and to Derby in the other direction.

I would like Left Unity and all other political parties to insist on commuter, regional and freight trains on the other 48 Kms.  Still worth doing, especially from Wednesbury, in Sandwell to Derby!  It seems odd to me that the left and the green movement show such little interest in what is going on with public transport.  Hence, since the summer of 2017 I have been declaring as an Independent candidate in the Metro Mayor election - but I don't want any votes, only to use it as an opportunity to highlight more of the other obvious and sensible action to improve our prospects in the light of rising greenhouse gases and depleting resources.  Hence, FFPT and railway lines used - and much more, as you also know.

JEWISH ANTISEMITISM? NO PROBLEM!

WARNING!

Right on Labour, Ian Austin, will condemn this as all highly antisemitic.  And, this is anti-James O'Brien, although I love both of his books (named as the very last paragraph, below) and, sometimes, half-listen to his show.  James is especially brilliant when children phone in - Thursdays, 12 noon - but only in holidays, I think!

LBC, BBC, EHRC to see the light.

I listened, on catch up LBC radio, to the full 3 hrs of the James O'Brien show on Thursday, 29 October 2020.  I don't think he gave Corbyn's supporters a fair hearing to get what they wanted to say off their chest over that day's report from the EHRC.  James gave them short shrift and said he did not want callers phoning in to say that Corbyn was simply terrific and more sinned against than sinning.  James was too doctrinaire and dogmatic, giving me the impression that only his view was the correct one.  He was inflexible over insisting that callers defending Corbyn must only answer his, James's narrowly defined questions, eg, over how the caller responded to EHRC's three legal breaches over antisemitism.  Or, they could only answer the question, how did the Labour Party "end up in such a deep and ugly hole?"  If they were not answering his question, the call was politely and pleasantly terminated as soon as decent, with James saying "I don't want to fall out with you" but ...  And, once more his own view was sometimes stated!  Or he said, "You know we are going to part company at this point?", as though he had no wish to hear any point of view other than his own.  Far too narrow-minded, I thought.  He has got to learn to allow less eloquent listeners phoning in to get everything off their chest before interrupting or ending the call.  He interrupts too much!

Unlike presenters and journalists on Channel 4 News, James makes no attempt to be neutral and unbiased.  He is far too partisan, a black and white man who seems to be unable to see moral greys.  But, certainly, entertainingly provocative!

ALL EMBRACING ANTISEMITISM from the IHRA to catch out our enemies like Corbyn.

James failed to understand that people have different views over what antisemitism is.  He seemed to think it was obvious and, that there were no differing interpretations over where you draw the line between freedom of thought/speech and, racism.  What any Jew claims is antisemitism must be antisemitism might be James' view.  I think, freedom of speech, satire and attempts at comedy should be allowed without condemnation and censure.  Why can't we poke fun at the ancient Jewish stereotypes in cartoons, murals and parables?  Or, allow an innocuous sentence in a 2011 Forward to a reprint of a 100-year-old book?  James 'quick to find antisemitism' O'Brien, gleefully fell on Corbyn as an antisemite for this sentence.  A rather extreme condemnation of the poor, much-maligned man?

On James's Show there was one caller who mentioned at his Labour Party meeting there were members who were so desperate not to be seen as antisemitic that they were asking what antisemitism is, exactly so they wouldn't be condemned like Corbyn.  They were as nonplussed by it all as I was!

PRINCE HARRY

Why can't Livingstone be allowed to mention a book where it was stated that Hitler wanted to get rid of the Jews to Palestine in the 1930s?  Or, Prince Harry be allowed to fool around at a fancy dress party in a Nazi uniform?  Why can't every aggressive, warmongering nation (even the current occupant of the unholy Holy Land) be reminded of Nazi actions and how that ended so horribly for them in 1945?  Why is Israel exempt from having a guilty conscience?

NOT ONLY PRINCE HARRY IN NAZI UNIFORM - but a Jewish Prime Minister, too!

Such was the anger at the possibility of peace between Israel and Palestine in 1995, that our right-wing friends dressed up an image of Prime Minister Rabin in Nazi SS uniform!  How's that for antisemitism?!

ANOTHER JC 'pilloried'

What is so wrong with Jesus of Nazareth, in his very likely made-up story of the Good Samaritan, criticising, poking fun at and, putting in a very bad light indeed, his own religious leaders not caring one jot in seeing either a fellow Jew or, one of their traditional enemy beaten up and lying on the road half dead with all his worldly goods stolen?  Then, to cap it all, a despised Samaritan being the hero of the story!  No wonder the JC of Nazareth was hated and pilloried by the religious establishment of his day.  The state of Israel has done much worse over its 72 years since its foundation.  Created out of victory in war and, without Arab/Middle East agreement at the time.  In 2019, both the Jewish establishment and the Christian establishment had it in for Corbyn, the Arch Antisemite - the former Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks and the Archbishop of Canterbury united in a common bond in condemning Corbyn.  This is another antisemitic paragraph from my pen.

TREACHEROUS CORBYN in his contact with our enemies.

Similarly, the JC of Islington North has been pointing out how the Palestinians have lost out, badly, since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.  Corbyn is seen as a traitor with his contact and talks with the other side - Irish Republicans and Arab Muslims.  Hence, he is seen as a threat and a traitor and unfit to be prime minister because he is not on our side; not "one of us" (M Thatcher) in supporting our important post-War wars to reinforce and impose Wealthy White Western democracy and domination in the world.

One JC was "the friend of tax collectors and sinners".  The other JC was a friend of terrorists and antisemites.  Both as wicked and as bad as each other!  One, a self-hating Jew, as some of today's Jews might claim; the other JC a hater of Jews.  Such is the glorious mixed up and diverse world in which we all have to get on with each other - or, perish as fools.  Exactly as we are doing.  Shockingly.  Ecocide.

CONDEMNING A LITTLE LESS AND UNDERSTANDING A LOT MORE (not how John Major put it!)

Can we not have irony, satire, tongue in cheek cartoons, murals, other images and parables put about without being afraid of the label 'antisemitism' being pasted on one?  Clearly, not.  As with Muslim sensitivities over images of the Prophet, so with Jewish sensitivities, we must hold back, zip the lip and do nothing to upset either faith/culture.  Multi-cultural, multi-beliefs, means multi-understanding and multi-restraint.  But tolerance and peaceful co-existence must work both ways.  We all have to accept, to give, over both Jewish and Muslim sensitivities to stop violence and abuse.  But, perhaps, both lots of adherents might like to give, to concede, too - would they, please?

THE 0.3% OF LABOUR MEMBERS who drew in the EHRC investigation and their two proven cases.

The old antisemitism is hatred, showing discrimination, prejudice and being hostile to Jews.  The new antisemitism seems to be of two kinds.  The first kind is the outrageous threats of violence, actual abuse and disgusting name-calling towards Jewish Labour MPs from members of the public that should be a matter for the Police.  Members of the party should have been expelled once the evidence against them was obvious and irrefutable or, a guilty conviction in court.  Yet, only 0.3% of the membership had a case against them for possible antisemitism, it seems.  Yet, we had an 18-month major EHRC investigation into the Labour Party.  No doubt, James would call 0.3% as trivialising "the deep and ugly" problem at the heart of the Labour party.  (He didn't do so on air, from what I heard.)

Next, you have the banter of the office where, if offence is taken, then displeasure is made crystal clear to the perpetrator by the victim.  If it happens again, you take it up with your line manager for something to be said to stop that kind of talk.  If it happens for the third time, then the perpetrator is taken to a disciplinary hearing.

THE ULTIMATE ANTISEMITISM was seen ...

... in the right-wing Jews who wanted the assassination of their very own Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, 25 years ago this week - and actually carried out, too.  Astonishing!  Yet, it is these very same people who are most accusatorial and condemnatory of the antisemitic Labour Party and the lovely, empathetic, compassionate man who accidentally became the leader in 2015.  The man was noted for opposing every UK war the nation indulged in during his lifetime.  An allotment holder and vegetarian, I believe!  No wonder, like me, he did not exactly scream in delight at all the wars and killings in the Holy Land.  No wonder we are both antisemites.  We could be nothing less!

ALL QUIET ON THE ANTISEMITISM FRONT EITHER SIDE OF CORBYN'S LEADERSHIP

How was it that within weeks (or was it days?) of lifetime pro-Palestinian, Corbyn becoming leader - inheriting the top job from a Jew, Ed Milliband - there were heard complaints of antisemitism by the new leader when he had been around in the party for fifty years?  Had a significant number of the HQ staff been changed from Milliban pro-Jewish staff to Corbyn pro Palestinian staff members?  I think that is unlikely.  So how was it that Milliband never had antisemitism problems but within weeks/days of Corbyn becoming leader, the Party was embroiled in antisemitism and racism for over four years?  Did the EHRC find it proved that Corbyn was an antisemite?  I don't think it did.

Who were the Jewish Labour MPs who did not suffer threats, abuse and, name-calling?  Was it only Ed Milliband?  And why did Ed escape the antisemites?  However, in November 2014, he was losing funding from supporters of Israel who thought this Jew was not sufficiently pro Israel.  He was toxic enough but Corbyn was the last straw.  He was going to be taken to the cleaners, good and proper. And he certainly was!

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-funding-crisis-jewish-donors-drop-toxic-ed-miliband-9849299.html

https://www.channel4.com/news/i-have-never-seen-any-evidence-of-racism-of-antisemitism-or-anything-closely-related-to-jewish-labour-member-andrew-feinstein-on-corbyn

'How To Be Right'; 'How Not To Be Wrong'; how did I do?  Right or wrong?  Or, just … ?

 

Tim Weller

On the Labour Party current furore; as someone who left them well over 20 years ago, I cannot claim to be an expert on their internal affairs. However, the EHRC report only lists 2 claims/instances of antisemitic impropriety; JUST TWO! One refers to a statement by Ken Livingstone, which for the life of me I cannot see as antisemitic, and the other was about some obscure councillor who was dealt with by expulsion, and the matter thereby resolved, some time ago. How on earth this justifies the endless accusations of antisemitism and the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn is beyond me. (By the way, the EHRC report does not claim that the LP is institutionally antisemitic).

I see the whole saga as a Zionist offensive to prevent a pro-Palestinian politician ending up as the PM. It should have been seen as such and fought resolutely right from the outset but it was not; appeasement was always the order of the day. JC and his movement have now paid the price.

Bob

Remarkable Corbyn, successful Corbyn, socialist Corbyn lasted nearly 5 years!!

How did he do it?  A man of the people, comforting the Grenfell survivors; standing up at PMQs for that workhorse and kingpin of transport modes - the bus; railing against all our many wars in foreign lands down the decades.

He skillfully steered a middle course over the Brexit shambles realising that his party was riven down the middle with pro and anti Europeans.  The Brexit General Election was his undoing because he tried to be democratic, principled and wanting to give his party and the nation a final say in what should be done.  But the irrational, impatient electorate had had enough of all the shilly shallying and simply wanted out after three and a half years of indecision.  Should he simply have seen the mood of the electorate for out and simply advised out and campaigned for out?  Would that have meant a much closer fight between Johnson and him last December?

He wanted massive spending to end austerity and to put things right for the poor, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable.  Ironically, that is now happening with Covid-19 but not to build that fairer, more equal and sustainable society that should be everyone's top priority.

For me, he was the best Labour leader I have seen and probably the best since Keir Hardie.

Blair attacks Corbyn for turning Labour into 'glorified protest movement' and says it is 'marooned on fantasy island'

from

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-12-18/tony-blair-warns-labour-must-renew-itself-as-progressive-or-face-slow-demise/

But the report for Mr Blair’s organisation says the EU was not the “main explanation” and instead criticises the current leader “and the politics he represents”.

Only 24% of voters polled in the report believed Mr Corbyn is patriotic, with focus group participants criticising his perceived associations with the IRA and terror groups.

The fatal London Bridge terror attack during the campaign had “real cut-through”, the report says, with perceptions being that Mr Corbyn’s stance was weak.

His policies were individually popular, polling suggested, but voters felt they lacked credibility when taken together, with 22% thinking the ideas were both good in principle and that Labour could be trusted to spend the money wisely.

A Labour source defended Mr Corbyn and blamed Mr Blair for having overseen the start of Labour’s decline.

“In 2017 we saw the biggest swing to Labour since 1945 and more people voted for Labour under Jeremy, both in this election and in 2017, than Ed Miliband in 2015, Gordon Brown in 2010 or Tony Blair in 2005,” the source said.  (my emphasis)

“As with Scotland, the decline in Labour support in the North discussed in this report started under Tony Blair. While the party undergoes a period of reflection, perhaps Tony Blair should reflect on his own role.”

SELF: The UK electorate is completely out of sympathy with wishy washy, namby pamby liberals like me with our support for Corbyn, Stop the War Coalition, CND, the Prison Reform Trust, republicanism instead of the monarchy, the underdog, the crushed and marginalised (Gaza, West Bank, Palestine); and, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

Who or what was the handmaiden of Brexit?

"The Labour Party, by its own self-indulgence, was the effective handmaiden of Brexit... Our combination of misguided ideology and utter incompetence allowed it to happen" Tony Blair  

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to making globalisation work for the many, not the few.

SELF:

Localisation is vital to slow climate breakdown.  Not more globalisation that worsens the climate catastrophe.

Tony Blair's Labour took us into two disastrous wars on foreign soil that has left far too many parts of the Middle East in turmoil.  He did nothing to stop the arms trade while PM, so we Brits are fueling the war in Yemen and have done so from the outset.  Immoral Labour under Tony.  Upright Labour under JC.  3 election wins for Tony.  0 wins for Jeremy!

I thought the effective handmaiden of Brexit was the refusal of Jo Swinson and the LibDems to countenance Corbyn as a temporary PM, as one way to stop Brexit. This meant that they were unable to have a formal Remain coalition to defeat Johnson last week.  The Brexit Party was able to compromise and so stood down in every one of the seats where the Tories won in 2017.  And Brexit won by 80 seats.

I think it was the LibDems that was the first party to agree to Johnson's call for a General Election.  That put pressure on Labour to also agree, unfortunately.

Nicola Sturgeon was prepared to compromise with Corbyn in case of a hung Parliament .  But not Jo Swinson. Where does Jo stand on retaliation with WMD?

Brexit is making a rod for our own back.  Difficult, fractious relationships are generated from lots of talks to get new agreements when the EU arrangement was working fine and was not a problem.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

To 36 Dudley Labour councillors

Dear friends

Do NOT be in a hurry to be shot of hero Corbyn

I think the red wall of Midlands and North Labour strongholds voted Tory because of their strong Brexit, pro military/patriot, anti immigrant, anti foreigner, pro Brits first, sentiments.  And, concerns over Britain being 'Full'.

We Brits have always won every war, from the Boer War onwards.  'The Guardian' in February 2014 proved, in a four page spread, how in every single year since at least 1914, the Brits have been engaged in warfare on other people's land.  1968 was the only year that a member of our armed forces has not been killed somewhere around the globe since 1914.  The number of Brits slaughtered in warfare since 1945 has now reached over 16,000, I believe.  Corbyn must have known that and, I hope, was disturbed.

For me, Corbyn fearlessly, over decades, took the moral high ground with his UN first, pro justice with peace in the Falklands, N Ireland and in Palestine/Israel.  He took the moral high ground with his 'war as a last resort, diplomacy first, upholding international law at the International Court of Justice at the Hague', principles.  A man of conscience and compassion, too.

It seems, Corbyn has been the traditional, stereotypical Englishman standing up for the underdog in his pro Palestinian stance.  Hence, he incurs the ire of the State of Israel, a member of Team America, as BBC's Jeremy Bowen put in last week.  Israel is our great friend and ally in protecting the West's strategic interests in the Middle East.  Perhaps, Corbyn is seen as disloyal to the West's supremacy in the Middle East.  Israel's displeasure with Corbyn has been shown with their relentless campaign of labeling him as antisemitic soon after he became Labour leader and ever since.  The media, too has locked onto it with glee, too.  Any irony, humour over traditional views of Jewish businessmen and women has been slapped down as examples of antisemitism.

Both Corbyn and SNP First Minister Sturgeon fearlessly stated that if the UK was attacked with nuclear weapons, neither would retaliate with firing off Trident missiles.  Both are rightly, nuclear/WMD pacifists.  NOT conventional weapons pacifists, however.  But their renunciation of the use of WMD is unacceptable to America, Israel and the UK establishment.  Certainly, unacceptable to most English and Welsh voters and the unionist voters in N Ireland.

Labour must inspire and lead towards humanity and all life on earth FIRST urgent policies.  That means postponing extinction for all life on earth.

Labour must stop the conversion of the 120 Kms (74 miles) Black Country principal mainline railway being turned into:

• VLR tram line with the proposed extension of the Stourbridge Shuttle onto a mainline railway!!
• LR Metro tram line to destroy the integrity/unity of the 120 Kms.
• VLR and innovation centre on the only feasible site of Dudley Castle Gate railway station
• new extended 16 Kms cycle-walkway from Walsall to Lichfield on this forgotten, still unfinished mainline railway

Use the £2 BILLION to 2026 to bring in fareless buses for ALL at all times; and, electric buses.  Fareless buses are found in about 100 towns and cities around the world - 30 in the USA and about 20 in France, according to national FoE.

Happy Christmas

Tim Weller

The last debate between Johnson and Corbyn on 6 Dec 2019

The last debate between Johnson and Corbyn

I thought that Corbyn was articulate, with well reasoned arguments and more substantial answers than Johnson's thinner comments with more doubtful content; even a foolish answer about crawling down the gangway of the House of Commons.  I thought Jeremy Corbyn looked and sounded prime ministerial.  Boris Johnson appeared hesitant at times and boringly repeated, often the misleading, illusory and empty slogan, 'Vote for me to get Brexit done.'  (SELF: the wrong priority; the wrong issue to make the right issue even worse)

During this election campaign that I have followed on radio and TV, Nicola Sturgeon was easily the most impressive party leader.  Very able, knowledegable; and, every difficult question thrown at her was taken fair and square and turned to her advantage to actually heighten her stature!  She should be the First Minister of all the UK, in my opinion.

Therefore, I would like to see a hung Parliament with a coalition of Labour and SNP.  It would be on a confidence and supply basis, it seems.  A Corbyn/Sturgeon first minister team - one can but dream!!

Sprint is extravagant and unnecessary

Sprint is far too expensive and is NOT even electric.   “Low emission vehicles (Euro VI or better emissions, with an aspiration to operate with zero emission vehicles when practicable)”

Use the money to extend free bus and tram travel from the disabled and elderly like me to EVERYONE and start a sea change in attitudes to free up road space for those who really do need their vehicles for their businesses.

Bus use is declining, routes cut and fares rising faster than inflation.  In the House of Commons, at PMQs in July, Jeremy Corbyn said, "Fares are increasing, routes cut, passenger numbers falling, isolating elders and disabled people, damaging communities and High Streets and causing more congestion in our towns and cities.  People are spending more time to travel to work and school. It is bad for our climate change commitments, bad for our air quality. Often, the only mode of transport for many people is the bus."

THEREFORE:

Turn the nearside lane into bus lanes instead of digging up the roads for trams.

Give traffic light priority to ALL buses with their fareless passengers.

Use the money to give us ALL electric buses.

Use Metro and Sprint money to bring ALL towpaths and bridleways and shared footways into use by cycles.  Smooth all weather surfaces, please.

Use the money from abandoning the WORLD’S  FIRST project to turn a mainline railway into a tram line.  This is the 120 Kms Worcester, Black Country, Derby mainline “of national strategic significance” into a piddling little tramline of 6.7 Kms plus, of course, a test track, trees and, Japanese knotweed!

TELL THESE VIPs AND COUNCIL LEADERS WHAT YOU THINK:

andy.street@wmca.org.uk andrew.browning@wmca.org.uk cllr.mike.bird@walsall.gov.uk roger.lawrence@wolverhampton.gov.uk rsleigh@solihull.gov.uk   Ian.Ward@birmingham.gov.uk Cllr.Patrick.Harley@dudleymbc.org.uk steve_eling@sandwell.gov.uk george.duggins@coventry.gov.uk

Thank God for a different kind of leader

A consensual, collegiate leader who is decent, honest and principled (as everyone says Corbyn is but, "we certainly don’t want him"!)

For goodness sake, not a leader who forces his Cabinet to toe his/her line but who is the first among equals.  A leader prepared to listen and change in the light of advice from people who know what they are talking about.

A leader who does not rule or reign but who serves humbly with no strutting around, self importantly, on the world stage. (I have heard 'good' things of Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs who is also mid 60s)

A leader who sensitively and, from time to time, questions, challenges, checks on what his fellow departmental leaders in the Cabinet are up to but does not compel obedience to his/her wishes.  Who lets them get on with the job without constant prying.  An encourager and supporter of his/her Cabinet members.

A leader who no longer jumps into military interventions/interference in foreign lands without the clear say so of the United Nations General Assembly.

A leader who is the prime, meaning foremost, the first minister meaning servant of the people rather than an all powerful dictator who coerces and compels others to do as he/she says.

A leader of integrity and honour who sticks to his bottom, middle and top line of no aggression, ever -no first, second or third use of WMD - ever.  A WMD pacifist, only as Corbyn is.

​Switzerland's values v UK/France/US values

Corbyn is NOT a warrior, NOT a warmonger.  He does NOT believe in upping the violence to turn friends into enemies and, then, with more retaliation from our side, making even more ferocious enemies.  Make the UK like Switzerland - famous for non aggression, for being revenge free and, with a first class rail network.  What a fine example for us to follow, James, my friend!  (James Morris, my MP)

Switzerland never attacked Egypt in what the UK, France and Israel called the 'Suez Crisis'.

Switzerland never ousted democratic Prime Minister Mosadeq in Iran.

Switzerland never ousted democratic Allende in Chile on another 9/11.  This time, 1973.

Switzerland never ousted Saddam from Iraq in 2003 or the Taliban in 2001, only to find that the Taliban popped up again, al Qaeda was reinvigorated and Islamic State also rose like a phoenix out of the ashes of our own making in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

Switzerland did not remove Gaddafi from Libya to make things worse for the people there.

Switzerland is not part of the crusader ("if you are not for us you are against us" GW Bush) coalition of the willing to oust Bashar al Assad from Syria.

Non-aligned Switzerland does not get attacked, bombed and hated for killing our fellow humans 3,000 miles away.
Switzerland is morally strong on the world stage.
UK/France/US is militarily strong on the world stage.