The Great Jezza Conundrum

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I tried to set this up yesterday but made a right hash of it.
So, in order to enlighten me, who thinks what about the Corbynisteria.

[Beefheart]

Well my thoughts on him are that, yeah, it's nice for the hard left Labour supporters that their guy will win and they'll be able to feel better about themselves. But I don't even think he was even ever the right guy to be *their* candidate. He has the air of a man who acted like he'd never find himself in this position, and now he is in this position his past actions will come to bite him in the arse. Was there nobody better within the party that represents the same ideology that could have stood? That might have been more electable? Whether the answer is yes or no either way it highlights the problems within the Labour Party.

I also think he's won (assuming he has) off the back of the fact that the other three candidates have offered nothing. In another field he'd have finished last as the joke candidate but he's now being carried on a wave of his own hype with his supporters thinking he's offering some genuine alternative, that'll he get swathes of non-voters to vote, and laughably that he's got the Tories 'running scared'. They'll be pissing themselves.

I think I've said it before but the best hope is that someone emerges around 2018 to take over and will at worst just look more moderate and electable following Corbyn.

[BWFC_Insane]

Second option for me, though I'm not sure that entirely encompasses it. I don't support any one party in particular but have voted Labour as a preference to further Conservative governments all my life.

As I've gotten older I realise that certain views I have are further left of Labour, and some sit far more to their right. No party will ever perfectly align. I've also increasingly realised that ideology does not have a place in British politics and as much as misty eyed lefties will scream that it does, the practical improvements Blair made to the NHS, the Education system, for example, outweigh a million billion times what the "far left" of the Labour party have achieved in the same time period. And you could stretch that out a further 200 years and they won't achieve what Blair did.

That isn't to blindly say I worship the cult of Blair or think he was anything other than a slick salesman in a sharp suit. But would I rather have a Labour party in power with a message that is acceptable to the British electorate which allows them to restore some social and public services at the very least, OR some left wing loons pretending their leading a revolution and ignoring reality? Clearly the former. And I don't think Corbyn is a loon, he is clearly an intelligent and principled man, BUT he is as far away from becoming leader of the country as Bolton Wanderers are from winning the Champions League. He also has some very dangerous ideas that I simply cannot subscribe to, especially his view on "defence".

The problem for me is that the Labour party in general has dug a hole for itself. It has let absolutely MPs into senior positions they absolutely are incapable of filling. Beyond Miliband and Balls they had a group of amateurs trying to manage their campaign. It was an embarrassment and a frustrating one at that. But where are the heavyweights? The big hitters in the Labour party that can command the respect of voters and not necessarily as leader but as key party members building something that is strong and electable? They simply aren't there. And the few that are don't want to know as they probably realise they'd just be wasting their time. The result of all this is letting Corbyn, the least suitable candidate to take the party forward, probably be charged with the task of doing so.

Frightening in my book.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well that's two highly individual contributions.
I respect them both, but hope that the poll question despite its inadequcies as highlighted by both yourselves, still manages to encapsulate the basics of why Jezza is such a conundrum. I say this only because you both managed to pick one of the 4 options without too much fuzziness of choice.
Ta, by the way, it's helped me begin to understand WTF is going on...

[clapton is god]

New Labour and Blair'ism is a busted flush. I think I lot of people looked at the result of the last election, stepped back in horror and thought 'what the hell have we got to do!' I also think its true to say that the Labour party left a lot of people back in 1997 as opposed to a lot of people leaving the Labour party and those people are now flocking back and shouting 'Hallelujah! Finally a man comes amongst us with real socialist principles.'

Now, I haven't had real socialist principles for very long. To my chagrin I was a Thatcherite back in the day, but living with a card carrying Labour party member / devout feminist for the last ten years has caused me to see (some of) the light at long last and whilst I have not held these socialist principles for long (although my parents and all my family were long term labour) I do claim them to be genuine, and perhaps I've just come back into the fold. So, I paid my £3 and I voted for Jezz and yes, I have attended a couple of meetings, the first early on with an awful lot of Trotsky hangers on but not so much the second, which had a good cross section of society based on age and race, I thought. I do worry if he has the strength to tackle the party in-fighting that will undoubtedly follow his win tomorrow, if it comes. And its such a shame that the next election is so far away, because I can't see this burst of energy lasting or being rekindled any time soon.

I've promised my wife that if he wins I will join the Labour party, and thats something I never ever thought I would say. Its going to be a rough ride, but interesting.

[Harry Genshaw]

I couldn't vote as my preferred option wasn't available. I'm not a Labour supporter but with views that are generally left of centre, I think it's a good thing. Corbyn doesn't need to win Tories over, he needs to mobilise all the young and disaffected working class to get down to their polling stations for the first time. He does that and it's going to be really interesting. He's already made a great start

[Enoch]

What was the result of this?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

What was the result of this?

The result (so far) is that he's bad news (if you support Labour) which translates as he's good news (if you don't).

[Hoboh]

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

Captain Korbinov and the politburo of Labour!

[Enoch]

What was the result of this?

The result (so far) is that he's bad news (if you support Labour) which translates as he's good news (if you don't).

It will all end in tears.

Just hope they're not mine.

[CAPSLOCK]

I couldn't vote as my preferred option wasn't available. I'm not a Labour supporter but with views that are generally left of centre, I think it's a good thing. Corbyn doesn't need to win Tories over, he needs to mobilise all the young and disaffected working class to get down to their polling stations for the first time. He does that and it's going to be really interesting. He's already made a great start

Has he?

[Harry Genshaw]

I couldn't vote as my preferred option wasn't available. I'm not a Labour supporter but with views that are generally left of centre, I think it's a good thing. Corbyn doesn't need to win Tories over, he needs to mobilise all the young and disaffected working class to get down to their polling stations for the first time. He does that and it's going to be really interesting. He's already made a great start

Has he?

Surely? He's increased membership of his party and the number of venues he attended that were sold out purely because of his presence for what would have been a dull election otherwise.

[CAPSLOCK]

You were referring to the young and disaffected

I reckon he's merely got the usual suspects out

[Bruce Rioja]

Where's the option - I like the guy but think his politics stink?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Where's the option - I like the guy but think his politics stink?

Third one down basically Bruce

[KeyserSoze]

Numbers!

http://publicpolicypast.blogspot.co.uk/ ... m.html?m=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[thebish]

^ bloody norah - I'd need a couple of weeks to read all that!

[KeyserSoze]

Well worth the time.

[Bijou Bob]

What I haven't seen mentioned yet, is the impact that this will now have on the London Mayoral election. Taxi drivers son v multi millionaire old Etonian. Let the class war commence. I can only see the Tories getting an absolute drubbing.

[Hoboh]

Turning out to be a bit of an arrogant, ignorant pig if you ask me, won't be long before his blood is on the steps of the commons!