Labour Party leadership election 2015

[Gustaf]

The desire of the far left to commit electoral suicide is always an amusing spectacle.

Corbyn strikes me as completely unelectable. There is a subtle line between electable centre-left and loony far left which is not always easy to spot. It is what in a PR system divides the marginal Communist/Ex-Communist voter from the marginal Social Democrat voter. With the special exception of Syriza (and maybe something else that I forget) the former type of party simply does not win elections in the Western world. And I feel Corbyn really falls on the wrong side of that line.

[Gustaf]

Did anyone see the Newsnight focus groups last night? They were basically the full versions that were in the Buzzfeed article I mentioned earlier

Didn't one of them say that Corbyn's policies are right out of the 60s? Lol, as if that decade wasn't far better to live in than the current one (for the average Brit, anyway). Most of the policies were better too.

That's offensive nonsense.

[Gustaf]

Did anyone see the Newsnight focus groups last night? They were basically the full versions that were in the Buzzfeed article I mentioned earlier

Didn't one of them say that Corbyn's policies are right out of the 60s? Lol, as if that decade wasn't far better to live in than the current one (for the average Brit, anyway). Most of the policies were better too.

1. Abortion was illegal
2. Life expectancy was about a decade shorter
3. Homosexuality was illegal

Yeah, if only we could return to the good old days, eh?

[Gustaf]

I was responding to the statement that the 60s was a better decade than the current one (which seems to have now been retracted, in fairness).

That the Wilson government fixed some of those things towards the end of the 60s is irrelevant to that claim.

Anyway, social policy aside, look at any decent metric of welfare and obviously people are better off now. Leftist radical nostalgia for poverty is annoying. I guess if you like poverty supporting Corbyn makes sense though.