28 October 2021
Diary of a Corbynista
A Banquet of Effluent
by Don Urquhart
21 October
Message Board responses to Corbynista in Shaw Sheet 297:
Walsall:
I would take issue over A/V being a form of PR when, in some circumstances it is even less proportionate than FPTP. The ‘2 votes’ argument is nonsense, BTW. However, that notwithstanding, the greater majority of democracies, not necessarily electorates, use some form of PR. The only other government in Europe using a similar system to ours is Belarus. I am not sure that is a good reason for us to maintain this. I think one of the main problems is that adversarial politics has become ingrained in the psyche of the nation. Until we acknowledge that collaborative politics is a better, healthier mechanism we will always have this argument. Another consideration is that PR requires that the population becomes better educated in what any given party is offering. Currently, we tend to vote along tribal lines, not along those which provide the best outcome for the greatest number of people.
It is clearly in the best interests of the 2 main parties, certainly, to maintain this fiction that FPTP is the best solution, especially the Tories, whose gerrymandering makes their continuing success more likely. However, the stark reality is that a system which allows a party with only 43% of the vote to get effective 100% control is inherently immoral.
Sunlounger:
Do many people care? According to a recent John Curtice poll, leave voters are largely unchanged in their decision to vote leave again (52% of the electorate) and a majority of this same group thinks that the current government is putting country before party. All I can say is that I am glad I left the UK.
Walsall:
I think that people should care. However, we would be better served by giving everyone some education in how our politics works. As I mentioned, we appear to vote along largely tribal lines.
There is a serious case of cognitive dissonance though, if they believe the Tories are putting country before party or self-interest. Who has actually benefited, other than their donors and/or friends?
I would dispute those figures. The surveys I have seen show a consistent if small majority to re-join, alongside a very strong feeling that this government is doing a really poor job of everything.
It comes to something that a Leave voter complains that that this was not the Brexit they voted for, even though, seemingly unanimously, they all knew what they were voting for.
Greek Chic
First past the post is changing also…at least the boundaries are changing to maximize the Tory vote. Progressive Alliance is the only way forward…
Meanwhile, if we are to believe Yougov polls support for this lot remains solid.
I ask myself, what does it take to start a riot? Prescription charges, pension freezes, pension limit lowering, universal credit cuts, fuel shortages, energy cost rises, GP bashing, unsold lobsters, Peri Peri chicken cuts, pigs slaughtered without being butchered, Covid Covid Covid, lies lies lies. ??? Have we all been sedated?
Flyboy:
Well said. That is a real worry… people are happy with incompetent liars, unbelievable, but I’m not prepared to let the small minded get their way….
22 October
Harassment and hate speech are popular topics. If a newspaper publishes articles which can be construed as harassment or hate speech the proprietor can be prosecuted. I can see no reason why proprietors of online platforms should not meet the same standards. That means Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and doubtless many others. I guess they are too powerful for politicians to take them on. In the UK our government rattles on about international solutions and does nothing.
23 October
There was a demonstration in London supporting Julian Assange’s attempts to avoid extradition to the United States. They say the prosecution is politically motivated and that he should be released from Belmarsh Prison having suffered enough. The press coverage of the demonstration and the case in general is hard to find. It is disappointing that the fullest and fairest report is that of Press TV, the Iranian propaganda broadcaster.
24 October
Mr Sunak was on Andrew Marr and Trevor Phillips. With the budget speech due later in the week one hoped for some tough questioning particularly about the impact of benefits cuts, inflation and fuel costs on the population. But in vain. For the two pale imitations of proper political journalists just posed the question:
Is there anything you would care to share with us Sir?
And Sunak eased into his smooth after breakfast speech.
25 October
It must be bad if The Daily Mail is attacking government policy.
Just 22 Conservatives rebelled against the Government last week by voting for an amendment to the Environment Bill which sought to place a legal duty on water companies not to pump sewage into rivers.
Sewage pollution is a key component of what MPs have heard is a chemical cocktail of pollutants going into rivers, with raw sewage being discharged into waters more than 400,000 times last year.
Just over a year ago The Guardian explained that the privatised water companies were feathering the nests of executives and shareholders rather than investing in infrastructure:
In the past 10 years, the companies have paid out £13.4bn in dividends and directors’ pay has soared. The earnings of the nine water companies’ highest-paid directors rose by 8.8% last year, to a total of £12.9m. The highest paid CEOs were at
with a salary package of £2.4m, and United Utilities, a salary package of £2.3m.
26 October
On Newsnight a tiny item about the Environment Bill. For the Tories Richard Graham MP for Gloucester and for the Environment Baroness Jones. Graham told us that it would cost billions to get the sewage works into a position where they no longer have to pump faeces into our rivers and coastlines. We needed a plan according to him while Jenny Jones was looking for action. Graham was reduced to using the argument I had seen MPs use on Twitter:
If we don’t pump it into rivers and the sea it will go into the streets and come back up your pipes at home.
In short it was false dichotomy number 93.
The government is on the run on this one. I am not a great one for Twitter handles but #turdreich seems appropriate.
27 October
Here’s what I tweeted and emailed to Compass the Progressive Alliance organisation:
Are there any plans to put up a single PR candidate for the Old Bexley and Sidcup by election? The Tory majority in 2019 was big but we have to start somewhere and show we are serious.
Could be it’s just a talking shop.
