Things can change and events can move on, but the downturn in the Government's poll ratings this month has been dramatic. Labour are consistently over 20 points ahead and in some polls well over 30. As more and more people come off fixed-term deals for their fuel and mortgages and feel the effects of huge increases, affection for the governing party is not likely to improve. Labour needs to think very hard about its plans because they are likely to enter government at an awful time, with the need to repair public services never greater, and public funds never more reduced. Still, the top 10% of earners and wealth holders are doing OK.

Never never underestimate Labour's ability to grab defeat from the jaws of victory

Absolutely! Labour have been in opposition for 30 out of the last 43 years!

In my mind, there are two distinct Labour traditions;
1)Those who believe in one of numerous Socialist/ Marxist ideologies with a quasi-religious conviction, and
2)Those who seek to make gradual, practical steps in order to improve life for the majority and especially for the disadvantaged.

Those belonging to group (1) are dangerous.
Group (2) are now leading the Party and have an opportunity.

Labour took office in 1945 and, when resources were also in very short supply, succeeded in setting up the basics of a civilised society from which my generation gained so much. (Public healthcare, education and housing to name but a few). We need the spirit of 1945. Difficult, in a society torn apart by greed and self-interest.

Peter

I never forgave BJ for making a U-turn in the brexit campaign. Had he not done that I reckon the UK would still be in the EU and the better for everybody (in my opinion).

He chose his side knowing that it would have been the one most likely to benefit himself, and give him the best chance of the top job. It's what he has done his whole career...

Same reason why he spent the whole summer on multiple holidays, and avoiding doing any work, and even last week he was on holiday (with a day trip to earn over a £100k to give a talk) while parliament was sitting...

It's so refreshing to see so much sense being talked here... all of the last few comments but particularly this one.

So, if Liz Truss resigns as the current p.m. who can the tories find to replace her? Desperate times call for desperate measures. I would suggest a hologram of the late Sir Winston Churchill.

so, for any avoidance of doubt, the tory omnishambles has seen in 2022:
3 "prime" ministers*
4 chancellors,
3 home secretaries (of which one has by the sounds of it committed treason)
1e17 U turns
massive increases in poverty
and there will be loads more but I can't think of those off the top of my head...

*not yet, but we know we are getting a third, and probably a 4th before christmas if things continue the way they are going...

We must have a General Election immediately.
Afterwards, the Conservatives will be sweeping the country.

Only one wo committed treason (the Home Secretary).

Fewer than the US.

Lettuce rejoice - the PM resigns!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/20/iceberg-lettuce-in-blonde-wig-outlasts-liz-truss

Dagnabbit, and I was waiting to make fun of Liz's name, but I guess she has lost her "support".

BJ is a also good name to make fun of ...but did you know that he has been BANNED on the Patreon system, because if you are a Patreon blogger like I am, you cannot mention BJ at all because their word ban database will not let you post any text with the letters BJ in it. I know this because I was trying to blog about the mud scene on the old tv show 'BJ and the Bear" and their system would not let me post the text and I got a warning message from their system that BJ was a banned word because it is used in the porn world.

I sent Patreon an appeal reminding them that the 3rd largest warehouse store in the USA after Sam's Club and Costco is BJ's Wholesale club. I sent them a picture of the new store being built in my home town and the big sign that says "BJ;s coming soon" along with a link to the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" sung by BJ Thomas, and asking them if their stupid word bans were blocking mentions of his song as well.

Word ban databases are stupid and ridiculous because A.I. iis not intelligent enough to understand the context of sentences,

Winston Churchill has often been cited as the greatest ever Briton. Interestingly, until 1940 his political career was generally seen as a series of failures; he had twice changed parties and was viewed with suspicion as an unreliable maverick. He was blamed (as Home Secretary) for the deaths of striking miners in 1910 after armed troops were deployed. He was sacked as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915 after the disastrous campaign he had masterminded in the Dardanelles.

As Chancellor in 1924, he returned the value of the Pound to pre-First World War levels, contributing to the endless misery of unemployment and dire poverty.
In the 1930's he was best known for his viciously racist opposition to any degree of Home Rule in India.

He became Prime Minister in May 1940 after the failed British campaign to defend Norway. The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain resigned. Guess who, again as First Lord of the Admiralty, had planned, meddled, and interfered with his commanders throughout that campaign?

Peter

Apparently there is a risk Boris Johnson will try for another go!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/21/boris-johnson-stand-tory-leadership-race-pm

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/oct/21/newspaper-front-pages-today-will-boris-bounce-back-what-the-papers-say-as-liz-truss-quits-and-tories-search-for-new-leader

Boris Johnson is reportedly jetting back from his Caribbean holiday to launch his campaign.

MPs have started declaring their support for Sunak, Johnson and Mordaunt. They appear to be the front runners at this stage.

God help us.
Speculation is that he is mending fences with Sunak to run on a joint ticket.
If he does, we can only hope that there are enough old-school Tories left in Parliament, with the faintest degree of decency left, to vote this corrupt liar out.

We are crying out and begging for a government with a moral compass.
Please.

Peter

Senior Tories trying to put a stop to Boris Johnson returning

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/22/senior-tories-say-johnsons-return-as-pm-would-risk-conservative-partys-death

And Boris has now pulled out of the race!!!

meh meeting the various small Marxist sects i think you'll find we're not quite Pol Pot. As much as i'd like to be Chairman Gonzalo in the body of some 24 year old Geordie, unfortunately im just a call centre worker who mostly does union work for the UCU.

Anyhow that Labour goverement which fair play did do all those nice things for us unfortunately found the funds for such things as a result of things like chopping peoples heads off during the war in Malaya. As much as communism gets quite the wrap for killing class enemies (I mean capitalism does that also and doesn't even dress it up, during the Hungarian civil war upper class people used to literally shoot peasants from horseback like they were fox hunting) even mild mannered social democracy shows its teeth in its quest to acquire capital for its service programmes (eg. Tony Blair bombing the shit out of Iraq which i think we all know how thars ended up, Britain's viscous suppression of rebel forces in Oman, funding death squads in the North of Ireland ect ect). Systematic institutions allow these things to happen, hence why a complete upending of such a system in my eyes is needed rather than incremental change which is funded the same way as neoliberalism. It just takes the edge off until it collapses under its own contradictions the exact fuckin same way as every other form of capitalism.

Labour will more than likely win the next election, considering Kier Starmers position on striking workers at the moment i dont hold much hope for my class or community under his rule. Considering last time they were in power Labour gave economic control to the bank of england and let them deindustrialise our towns in the north a second time after Thatcher, i place no hope in some rejigged new labour.

Anyhow further reading for a bit discussed if interested so it doesnt sound like im off me rocker at 1am lol

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/08/britains-secret-wars-oman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batang_Kali_massacre
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-udr-a-potent-weapon-in-britain-s-dirty-war-in-northern-ireland-1.4846097
https://youtu.be/nqwKft0DXnA?t=2953
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Hungary)

Rishi Sunak becomes the Leader of the Conservative Party, so therefore becomes the next Prime Minister...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/24/rishi-sunak-becomes-first-british-pm-of-colour-and-also-first-hindu-at-no-10

Hi, NorthernWAM,
Thanks for your reply. And Greetings to everyone in the People's Republic.

I don't think you're off your rocker at all. In fact, I think we would probably end up agreeing on more things than not.
Especially colonial history. You could have added atrocities in Kenya in the 1950s to your list. Attitudes toward Britain's imperial past, attitudes towards women's rights, the equality of races, and the rights of all minorities have changed unrecognisably since the 1940s, absolutely for the better, and there is still a long, long way to go.

My point was that the 1945 government probably achieved more in five years than any other administration. Against a very difficult economic background. Partly because there was a shared feeling that people deserved better, and the shared experience of war helped to make this possible. There was such a thing as society.

I agree with you about Iraq. A tragedy. Tony Blair insists that he made what he sincerely believed to be the right decision at the time. Pity that we could not have been even better friends towards America, because the very best friends are prepared to tell you what you don't want to hear.

I do worry about strikes, especially in the public sector, and I agree that Labour's position is weak. I think that Labour should be stronger against strikes. Every dispute has a resolution, eventually, and surely, surely we can find an intelligent way of finding that agreement without the need to strike? Who on earth are strikes in the public services meant to be against? I live in a former mining community. I saw what happened in 1984-85 when a Union was taken over by the hard left. The mines are long gone now, but the suffering of that year was intense. Yet the NUM leader thought that the struggle was glorious.

It's not the existence of financial institutions or big businesses that worries me, it's more how it's regulated and who benefits. In the last twelve years, most of us have benefitted little. The poor have got a little poorer, but the top 10% have gained a lot. I would like to see Labour go in hard with the taxation of excessive income and wealth.

I did look at your links. In reply, I'd recommend to you Owen Jones' book, "This Land." It's a sobering account of the Corbyn leadership and the story of a political party then led by ideology rather than pragmatism.

Regards, Peter