I’d made a film for Newsnight about what the Labour Party needs to do to reconnect with voters, and at first I was pleasantly surprised. The producer of the film was brilliant. But then they showed it on the programme and afterwards made me debate against a semi-literate lump of cretinous rage who just jabbered meaningless idiocies that had nothing to do with anything I’d said or even the questions a bemused Kirsty Wark tried to ask her. Like a Chatty Cathy doll programmed by an educationally subnormal friend of Stalin’s: pull the cord and out it all comes, a succession of furious non-sequiturs. “Never again,” I told the idiot of a programme producer, afterwards, very solemnly.
Barbara Ntumy of Momentum
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07p27g1/newsnight-18082016
The discussion begins about 21 mins in.
Well Barbara didn’t seem that rageful but she wasn’t accepting Rod’s premise which was the cause of his.
I used to have very little time for Rod Liddle, but I have to say that the little sub program in Newsnight was spot on with reference to how Labour are now viewed here in the North.
But buggeration, the Times firewall strikes again. I’ll have to go to my local caff for breakfast and hope that one of the copies of the Sunday Times is free so can read the rest of the article.
Labour’s ex Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan pointed out Labour’s problem is a much more simple way:
There’s two kinds of Labour: “Guacamole” Labour, who are your middle class revolutionaries like Corbyn, and “Mushy Peas” Labour, your sun/mail reading working class types.
Guacamole Labour’s been in charge for years, but has finally run out of voters…
I particularly enjoyed the argument that because immigrants don’t make the laws or enforce them this somehow means they cannot be responsible for wages going down as a consequence…
Liddle is pretty much spot on with his views on how Labour voters in Middlesbrough feel about things, as is Rhodri Morgan who is saying much the same thing a different way.
Daedalus
Just go to Waitrose, spend £10 on overpriced organic exquisities and you can get one for free.
It’s what I’m going to do right now.
We used to have evangelising political parties: here are our beliefs, come and join us and believe in them as well, and help us gain power. Now we have marketing political parties: what beliefs will the voters buy from us, that’s what we need to sell to them to gain power.
Britain always has had a fair number of fascists: the Blackshirts could muster big support and there was no post-war denazification here; the Blackshirts rebadged as the Union Movement and pushed the EU (the clue’s in the name) and their idea was to bung out all West Indian and Irish! migrant labour working on the post war recovery and replace them with pure blood Europeans. But it appears the Brit fascist undersludge don’t like them either. Dave Nice but Dim Cameron made the mistake of holding a referendum on a related issue when any A level British Constitution student could tell you: don’t hold a referendum in Britain or else you will get the reintroduction of hanging and flogging. Are you telling me if they had organised a referendum after the Rivers of Blood speech,they’d be any West Indians left in this country?
Rod Liddle is a prat.
I assumed Murphy was meant. Had to double-check the absence of a Ragging on Ritchie tag.
Rod Liddle is indeed a prat. Sometimes he’s also a good thing.
Rod Liddle can be very, very funny. And, unlike most of the commentariat, he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
“There’s two kinds of Labour: “Guacamole” Labour, who are your middle class revolutionaries like Corbyn, and “Mushy Peas” Labour, your sun/mail reading working class types.”
Yes, and your Sun/ Mail reading working class also tend to not hate this country.
This from the All Peoples’ Party (fighting for equality at the top) website:
Andrew K
The screed you attach ought to be seen as providing the beginnings of the criteria for a Socialist tax. Surely that woman would be far happier in Venezuela or even Zimbabwe than the UK?
As for DBCReed – no mention of an LVT or house price inflation? Is there a problem with the program?
“Edem is currently a student at London Metropolitan University, completing a degree in International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies.Edem is currently a student at London Metropolitan University, completing a degree in International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies.”
Well that will help her start the race war she’s craving…
She is a moron. Where do they find these people. Her understanding of economics is on a par with Murphy’s, although to be fair getting a degree in IR at LMU is not going to be even remotely close to a decent education. One hopes that her membership of the Labour party (one assumes that as a member of Momentum she is also a member of Labour) will be suspended as she campaigned for this bizarre APP.
The Wikipedia page about the All Peoples’ Party is entertaining
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_People%27s_Party_(UK)
In 2015 they seem to have contested Camberwell & Peckham (where the incumbent was Harriet Harman). Thus they have stood against Labour.
Interestingly they polled more votes than the TUSC candidate, a barrister and my near contemporary at a very selective direct grant grammar school.
He is ex SWP, a founder member of respect and currently bellyaching that he was rumbled and thrown out when he tried to join Labour.
polidorisghost
I live up North. We don’t have Waitrose. At least nowhere near that makes sense.
International Relations can be good stuff, I’m paying my own way for an MA in Intelligence and IR at Staffordshire. Four grand for a distance learning Materials is good value and it’s been quite enlightening.
Not sure how long Edem would last with my fellow students, though – even the staff are at worst softer left and open to contrary facts, like my citing Jared Diamond on homicide rates in ‘peaceful’ pre-agrarian societies; my lecturer cheerfully disagreed with me while giving me a distinction…
Her first qualification was in dental technology at Sheffield College. She’s clearly worked out that being a unpleasant hack in anti wacism crap is a better career path.
You arrogant sack of shit Reed.
Socialist scum says don’t ask the working class cos their followers of that socialist heresy called “fascism”(–invented and promulgated by socialist scum).
You are a middle class CM prick -but the working class–God bless ’em–don’t give a shit for your white-hating bollocks.
The destruction of socialism is in sight. Whinge on Reedy.
Huh? Dunno about the UK but I read recently that for value-added, a US degree in dental hygiene gave you about the best bang for your buck there was. A degree in Marxoid agitprop shite basically condemned you to penury.
Rod Liddle is great. I can generally recognise a piece of his from the first para without reading the byline. By God, the man can turn a phrase. He’s wonderfully splenetic.
@BiCR
Amen to that. Liddle can swoop from almost academic analysis to holding up an idea to ‘man in the street’/common sense ridicule in a single sentence. He’s clever, funny and can write beautifully. Oh, and he can rip the piss with the best of them: “a semi-literate lump of cretinous rage”- poetic and utterly apt.
Jason, IR is a lovely subject indeed. Did a module on it in my War Studies degree – just sorry I can’t do IR at masters or another degree.
Still there’s always plenty of books. 🙂
Rod and Mike Atherton are the only reasons for buying the Times.
“All People’s Party campaign manager Aaron D’Souza said…” That could make for an interesting family gathering if he is related to Dinesh D’Souza.
“Aaron is a youth advisor and campaigner. He has a BA from the University of London in History and Politics. He has previously worked in Parliament for an MP and in the charity sector. Aaron was a Deputy Field Organiser for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign in Florida. He is a radio presenter, youth committee board member and charity trustee.”
According to LinkedIn, he was an intern in Keith Viz’s office.
7.20 PM is another fake Mr Ecks. He is a piss poor imitator
Unwelcome back Reedy by the way.