Twitter has been more car-crash-like than usual today, as the Corbynites celebrate finishing second behind Theresa May in 2017 - all of the straw grasping ("we were only several thousand votes away from being able to form a really really stable coalition with the LibDems/ SNP/ Sinn Fein/ Plaid Cymru that would definitely have worked")
There's an interesting question about Corbyn's legacy if he'd accepted the scale of the defeat in 2017 and stepped down - the Owen Jones types would now be able to claim that there was some subsequent betrayal and that Labour should have followed Corbyn with more Corbynism.
Instead, he ploughed on, alienated a large number of people who'd voted for him through gritted teeth in 2017 and tarnished his own legacy - he'd have been a lot better if he'd walked away (just like the way that David Miliband has such a good reputation with some people because he's been out of UK politics for some time
Make that three Jess Phillips fans
Excellent - I'm glad she has other fans!
An MP who sits down to write bills with their opponents stands a much better chance of getting those bills accepted (since they have cross party support)
Corbyn was an MP who is happy to sit on the back benches virtue signalling with their Early Day Motions instead
the Tories seem to be quietly ditching some of the Thatcherite dogma and showing signs of being prepared to intervene in the economy (something New Labour were squeamish about) and you have the perfect storm.
Thatcher was pragmatic enough to ignore her own dogma when it suited her - she was "slash and burn" in some directions and "preserve and protect" in others - she'd have happily broken her own rules (e.g. changing from economic purity to taking a massive hit by virtually giving away assets like council houses and the utilities that were flogged off to bribe voters)
There is probably a no-win situation on the trans topic until we get sexless facilties and hence it is one of those issues that the Labour party should not get drawn into. Like many social reform issues it is often better to leave it to individual MPs and campaigners rather than develop party policy on it until public opinion gets used to the idea.
Agreed - you'll never find a position that a majority of people will agree on (as things currently stand), the hardliners are pushing for extreme positions (and anything that isn't their desired outcome will be seen as betrayal) - Starmer has chosen a by-election in a constituency with a fairly significant religiously conservative population to announce that he wants to allow self-certification - it won't be enough for one side and will go down really badly with the other side
What worries me is that Stonewall seems to have completely over-reached themselves and the predictable backlash will affect a number of people who deserve much better support than they have been getting
It took a long time to get as far as Civil Partnerships, it took longer to get to Gay Marriage - but these were achievements where the Governments were careful to wait for public opinion to catch up (so that, by the time things happened, they were widely accepted and there was no realistic proposal of repeal) - we're becoming a more tolerant country overall but... baby steps... maybe in another few years we'll have more mainstream agreement that doesn't currently exist... but that's a lesson that today's campaigners seem to be ignoring
It's going to be the next big "culture war" thing, isn't it, when the right wing sit on their hands and watch Labour tear itself apart between the "traditional" wing and the "non traditional" wing
Absolutely - Corbyn was a symptom, not the cause. He was, is, and shall remain utterly inconsequential, a puppet on which others could hang their views
That's the fascinating thing about Corbyn - what a blank sheet of paper he was - allowing other people to project things onto him (rather than an outspoken left wing campaigner like a Prescott/ Galloway etc, who'd have said things that alienated some people on the left)