This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[JimJamUK]

An easy and obvious win. Much as I am minded to let tourists and absurdly wealthy idiots waste their money for as long as we must tolerate their presence, that is conditional on (a) that being taxed and (b) not having these eyesores about the place. I won't go as far as to say it's a 'national embarrassment' (some of us have dodgy vape shops, actually) but having visited London many times throughout the year on my ALRs my experience is that would be worth it as a beautification project alone. I suppose the above question has been answered though.

If nothing else, it’s a relatively easy step towards reviving major high streets. It’s one thing tolerating a certain type of shop if the premise would otherwise be left empty, but where possible shopping areas should have stores that actually attract people to the area and are productive, job creating businesses. In the Oxford Street case cited above, it’s blatantly obvious what is happening and it’s totally unnecessary to allow these ‘shops’ to continue.

[JimJamUK]

Speaking of George Lansbury, someone apparently claimed recently that Labour was only ever a socialist party for four years of its existence (2015-2019). Corbyn wasn't even the most 'socialist' or 'left-wing' leader the party has ever had. Taking Hardie, early MacDonald, Lansbury and Foot into account, it wouldn't be entirely absurd to leave him out of the top three on that particular score.

The definition of left wing/socialist for a lot of people these days seems to be more about Israel or culture wars than tax, spend and government intervention in the economy.

[JimJamUK]

I suppose I have some sympathy: I did like him once, before the Darren Rodwell spat and leaks and everything after, and he is retiring with essentially everything he worked for destroyed. The whole 'Blue Labour' project stands in ruins. What remains of it except Paul Embery and George Owers tweeting in increasingly deranged tones about transgender people, utterly indistinguishable from the carcass of Living Marxism (except, perhaps, for when Paul Embery tweets 'maybe the IDF shouldn't have shot hostages waving a white flag' to his newfound followers' dismay)?

Blue Labour could have had a positive contribution to the party if they’d went out and spoke to ordinary Labour voters, but instead it became dominated by weirdo academics and the Extremely Online. And even if they’d got the right policies and language, they’d still have needed either substantial trade union support or a long-term plan to actually get those normie Labour voters to get involved with the party, as anything remotely Workerist would face strong opposition from the middle class liberals who dominate debate and membership in parties like Labour these days. In the end, we’ve gotten a Remain voting, London lawyer dragging the party back to something approaching the old right.

[JimJamUK]

Kate Osamor MP was suspended today after using Holocaust Memorial Day to accuse Israel of genocide. Somehow, this is only the 1st time she has been suspended (in 2018 she threatened violence against a journalist for asking her about employing her drug dealing son).

[JimJamUK]

Who is likeliest to succeed Starmer if by some black swan event he steps down

I really don't think there is a stand out favourite just now, is my honest answer. Streeting is the one who is relentlessly hyped by much of the media, but there is a lot of internal resistance to him.

Streeting does give off 2015 Liz Kendall vibes, but presumably would do better owing to a higher profile, the marginalisation of the left, and a greater desire to compromise to win. Still, if he fought a full leadership election based on attacking the soft left to attract praise from the right wing press, he would still probably lose…

[JimJamUK]

A large proportion of the people complaining in the comments of that tweet have the Palestinian, EU and/or trans flags in their name/bio. Nationalism and pride is completely normal until it’s a political party using the flag of its own country.

[JimJamUK]

I’m curious for thoughts on what would need to change for a viable new party of the left to emerge?

Realistically, that would be the Greens. But if we’re only talking about a genuinely new party with popularity similar to Reform, then it would be Starmer commanding a very centrist government that implements at least 1 incredibly controversial policy that leads to MPs leaving the party and a lot of voter anger that doesn’t just drift into right wing populism/non-voting.

[JimJamUK]

Realistically, that would be the Greens. But if we’re only talking about a genuinely new party with popularity similar to Reform, then it would be Starmer commanding a very centrist government that implements at least 1 incredibly controversial policy that leads to MPs leaving the party and a lot of voter anger that doesn’t just drift into right wing populism/non-voting.

I feel the UK is probably too old for a radically economically leftwing party. Any party built around renters/students would rapidly be perceived as an attack on older home owners/pensioners, and viewed with suspicion due to the (likely) educational background of its members.

London is also a giant elephant in the room. A genuinely leftwing party would have to decide whether it is the party of London, or if London's dominance of the economy and governance is the chief driver of inequality.

I largely agree in practice, but tbf the Lib Dems lasted a good few years as a party that was able to attract general protest voters as well as left of Labour ones. Whether a left of Labour Party could successfully appeal beyond the progressive left core vote would depend on who founded it in the first place and in opposition to what policies. If it was a new left or minorities focused party then it would obviously struggle, but one that focused on issues like the NHS or the working class could have a broader appeal. I do agree though that the latter looks very unlikely, as any new party with a small/committed membership would invariably be dominated by the progressive middle class activist and probably have even less connection to ordinary voters than our current major political parties.

[JimJamUK]

Reported that Kate Osamor may soon be getting the whip back in parliament.

I genuinely can’t see why the leadership would do this? Left winger, dodgy comments on Israel, and among other things threatened violence against someone who asked why she lied about not knowing about her son’s drug dealing crimes.