There will be those who will expect me to comment in the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey by Keir Starmer, so I will.
I too could not start my day without knowing what the Three Professors thought about the job description of a Manc lawyer. Relief eh, now life can continue.
“ Right now the success rate is getting on for 100% – allowing for time lag”
An absolute classic from Murphy on that thread
That does not mean I support all Starmer will do. I suspect I will be deeply frustrated by much of it.
Well, he won’t acknowledge you as Labour’s new Guiding Force, so yes, you’re going to end up frustrated.
It really underlines how shite our politics are when Rebecca Long-Bailey (stupid name) is meant to be an important figure.
You wouldn’t trust her to make a cup of tea without fucking it up, would you? If you looked up “dozy cow” in the dictionary, you’d probably see her strangely proportioned face.
Interesting that he’s supporting Starmer over Long-Bailey. The bridges with the Labour left have been burnt, but maybe he’s still hoping for a job?
Henceforth known as Rebecca Luvvie lives matter.
I agree it is a sign of the times that such mediocre garbage can be significant politically.
However mostly I am curious about the unanswered question – I gather she was fired for saying that Israel taught the US police to kneel on people’s necks. Terrible I am sure. But is it actually true?
SMFS,
From what I’ve read, no, Israel didn’t train those police officers but Amnesty International has claimed Baltimore and other police did send some of their officers there for training:
A fine distinction and Minneapolis police may have been trained by those who did go to Israel, but I haven’t seen anyone making that claim.
From what I can gather that training in the USA was a half day seminar at Israel’s embassy.
But then again they could have been trained anywhere as police do share tactics and techniques:
And this long Twitter thread is as an good explanation of why it was anti-semitic and why RLB knew it as I’ve seen:
I’m not copying them all across, I’ll leave you to go and read them, if you’re interested.
Long-Bitchy is anti-Semitic Marxist scum–end of.
Neck-kneeling/Israel. I doubt it. Neck kneeling is found in at least one martial art I know of but is a tech more used as part of ongoing attacks on a downed foe than restraint. As restraint it would likely by appropriate to one man working alone in a dangerous situation. Not needed with somebody already handcuffed and 3 other cops just stood there. I don’t think it would work well anyway with an EDP or a heavily drugged up berserker type anyway.
BiND- the politics are quite simple, Rebecca didn’t do what she was told by her boss.
Keir- hey Rebecca, that article you retweeted, i’ve been told it could be construed as X which some would then construe as Y. I see it as my job to end Y in the party. So please remove the retweet.
Rebecca- get wrecked grandad. You don’t own me.
Keir- you’re fired.
Now we can go into the whys and wherefores behind all the construing going on, but is it even necessary when really a leader takes a view, tells a subordinate colleague, this is how it’s got to be, colleague demurs. Suddenly Rebecca has the freedom of the backbenches. The way alot of leaders would look at it… If it wasn’t this it would be something else, and that something else could be more damaging. As it is Keir gets to declare a small victory over Y in the party.
Now of course that’s not the end of it. But Rebecca’s career took a hit, and Keir’s neutral or a boost, if he keeps doing that then he might actually get a handle on his party.
Links screwed …
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/rebecca-long-baileys-sacking-labour-keir-starmer-recognises-anti-semitism-456034
https://twitter.com/Sara_Rose_G/status/1276171378044125189
HB,
I haven’t seen anything that says he asked her to take it down and then sacked her, do you have a link? Everything I’ve read is that he just went straight to sacking her, but that could be the narrative that Starmer and his team want.
BIND
– here’s the article i read originally.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53183085
Iain watson- “Leadership sources, though, insist the sacking was not part of some grand plan.
They say Mrs Long-Bailey had to go because she repeatedly refused to remove her retweet of Maxine Peake’s article when asked to do so.”
HB,
Thanks, I see the Telegraph is also reporting that as well.
That she refused to take it down makes it worse, but it also means we can expect some fun in the future as she’s appears to be deliberately and openly challenging Starmer. Probably hoping to be come the de fact leader of Labour’s left.
What puzzles me is that no-one seems the slightest concerned that Ms Peake, for whom RLB has the utmost admiration, was, in the same post, advocating the overthrow of capitalism. Hmmm… that should convince a few floating voters, eh?