30 September 2021

Diary of a Corbynista

Labour into the Wheelie Bin

by Don Urquhart

22 September

In addressing the UN General Assembly Johnson disagreed with Kermit the Frog who famously found it hard to be green.

It is demeaning for our great country to be represented by such a person.  In terms of credibility, honesty and moral authority Jim Henson’s amphibian is by a long way his superior.

23 September

Martin is an eco-warrior.  I asked him what he thought of the Insulate Britain blockade of the M25 given that they held up someone trying to get his mother to the hospital to save her life after a stroke.

I expected a spirited defence of the protesters but he described them as Extinction Rebellion by another name and said that the group had been infiltrated by undercover police and was not to be trusted.

This Guardian article seems to bear him out:

Met Police “tried to recruit ex-officer to spy on climate change activists.”

24 September

Andrew Bridgen is a Conservative MP.  On Newsnight he told us that he had been flagging the lack of HGV drivers for years but had been ignored.  He discarded the proposal that we issue temporary visas to people from the EU and preferred the option of improving pay and conditions for HGV drivers.  He believed that there were 300,000 people in the country with an appropriate licence and that many of them would return to the industry if the bosses stumped up.

He also considered the £20 Universal Credit cut immoral.

Who needs Corbynistas?

25 September

I have seen a few Labour MPs praising Starmer’s 11,500 word essay.  I guess that’s in their job description.

It reads like the output of focus group ruminations handed over to some feeble hack.

What could have made him think the people were crying out for a “contribution” society?  Who would even know what it means?  And what’s with all this “reimagining”?

And why would you suggest that the money being spent on the Royal Yacht could be used to sort out ASBO’s?

Just about every cliché and hackneyed phrase is there.  “Rocket Boosters”, “New Deal for Working People” I ask you.

And how is climate change characterised?

As the world warms, we need so much more than warm words.

I am not a cruel person so I’ll leave it at that.

26 September

On Newsnight Lord Lilley, usually a red rag to the Corbynista bull, but here saying that the solution to the HGV driver shortage is to train people who live here rather than buying in cheaper labour from abroad.  Mark Fels, a recruitment consultant points out that it costs £4,000 for training and this is a significant barrier.   Here’s a terrific cause for the Labour Party to campaign on but they are upstaged by a right wing peer and a businessman.

27 September

At the Labour Party conference Starmer wins a few votes by throwing out opponents.  His supporters and the media queue up to claim the Party is now moving in the right direction.  They can claim what they like.  For socialists this is the last straw.

28 September

Message Board responses to Corbynista in Shaw Sheet 293:

Sunlounger:

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that there is a significant number of Labour members who would rather keep the Tories in number 10 than vote for a Labour government at the next GE. There are cries of foul that Jeremy Corbyn was sabotaged resulting in those people now trying to sabotage Keir Starmer. Is there any difference between these two groups of saboteurs? As this silly vendetta seems to be top priority, I suppose the UK has decades more of Tory rule to look forward to because the electorate will not elect a Labour party that is in permanent crisis.

Flyboy:

Re gas prices, it’s another example of how incompetent this government is, it’s no surprise that prices have risen – just ask the boys in the City who have been able to make a few bob just by paying attention to the markets over the past 9-12 months. They just leap from dealing with one crisis to another as they did with Covid and will continue to unless the opposition can get their act together.

Looking more and more like the 1970’s as time goes on…I have ordered an extra wheelie bin so I’m ready for when our rubbish is not being collected.

Greek Chic:

You won’t need another wheelie bin Flyboy. You can burn your rubbish in the fire pit. You will need to, to keep warm, when you can’t afford the gas bill. Burn the gas bill too.

Sunlounger:

Won’t the bonfire of EU rules keep everyone warm?

Greek Chic:

The difference between the two groups is that one group are socialists who want a better future for their children in a just society and the others are slightly less crooked Tories.

Sunlounger:

The problem is that there’s a flip side to the argument that holds a counter-position and plays moderate centrists against an aggressive left. I’m playing devil’s advocate, but the fundamental problem Labour has is that left and centre have irreconcilable differences which make Labour unelectable. The unions rejected PR, dreadful mistake, so the only alternative to senseless feuding is for Labour to split and water down the opposition even more. I was a card holding Labour member and a Momentum subscriber until this year. I’ve cancelled my membership and subscription because Labour has become a very silly party. I refuse to fund a party that guarantees a blue UK for at least another 10 years.