Burnham's relentless 'down to earth' thing reminds me of career guidance counsellors from American high school TV programs. Cooper - I like the idea of a female leader and she sometimes wears cool boots...
next labour leader
- Thread starter sun_tzu
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Yeah, and from experience, people (politicians) who play the "down to earth" card are generally the least down to earth people you can meet. If you're actually down to earth, and a man of the people, then you shouldn't have to harp on about it and sell yourself as such -- it should be evident in your speeches/policies/mannerisms/etc.
What good did it do after '83? What good has the last five years done, aside from delivering a Tory majority whilst at the same time losing Scotland? Labour opposed absolutely everything the Tories did over the last five years, from tuition fees to budgets to military action to press regulation. I don't know what reality people have been in since 2010 where Labour apparently meekly agreed with the Tories and Lib Dems on everything. In fact the one thing that really might be able to be used to split the Tories this time round, the EU referendum, Corbyn today produced basically an identikit answer to that which most Tories would.
My brother works for Network Rail, apparently they're having to get tons of Romanians in to work on HS2 because, as you say, we just don't have the expertise for such a project and they've just finished a lot of work on their own system.
Indeed all the major UK contractors (balfour, laing, carillon etc) are partnering with the likes of effiage, Ferrovial, etc.
Great for me as we work on the continent as well so know most of the joint venture project staff from somewhere along the way.
The Labour opposition to the Tories over the last five years has been the weakest I can remember. If you disagree, fair enough, but as far as I'm concerned Ed Miliband, despite being relatively likeable, was an absolutely terrible leader of the Labour party and failed repeatedly to capitalise on many unpopular and controversial Tory policies.
With regards to the EU referendum, if you believe that the UK should stay in the EU (as Corbyn does), should you go against your principles and pretend otherwise merely to cause some discontent within the opposing party? Corbyn believes that leaving the EU would be bad for Britain, he's hardly going to campaign for an EU exit, is he? There are many other issues over which the leader of the Labour party can attack the Tories, and it can be done without compromising your own beliefs to such an extent.
It's the opposite, he gives the same "I'll wait and see what Cameron gets at the negotiating table before agreeing to vote to stay" that almost all ministerial Tories give, as opposed to the vast majority of Labour MPs wanting to stay in regardless.
Yeah, but his position is very much the "EU is in bad shape, let's fight to make it better" stance.
That's exactly how I see it. Burnham strikes me as such a career politician, saying whatever he thinks people want to hear to get ahead.
Campaigning with the Conservatives against a Scottish Yes was a huge mistake.
And if losing Scotland was such a failing of the last 5 years let's be clear, only Corbyn stands any chance of making inroads there.
When I was a member of the Labour Party I met both of them away from the public eye and Burnham is the only one who struck me as being relatively normal. He has obviously got a brain on him, but if you didn't know he was a politician you would feel completely comfortable around him as a regular bloke. Cooper, on the other hand, reminds me of an alien who is fresh off the spaceship and whose years of study of the human race cannot compensate for her lack of real world experience of it - a total weirdo. Take away her ring of special advisers and assistants and she would be very exposed...the public will run a mile.
The more I think about Labour with Burnham as leader, the more optimistic I am. A Labour leader who is strong, sensible AND (somewhat) normal....when was the last time that happened?
I feel like she really resembles Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
She reminds me of a pixie. A soft alien pixie.
The strongest selling point of Burnham as a potential leader of the party is that he is the least ridiculous character out of the four contenders. When you look at what happened in the last election, one of the main reasons Labour lost so badly was because of Ed Miliband's susceptibility to the media's propaganda - he was like that kid at everyone's school who might as well have walked around with a 'kick me' sign on his back.
What character/image trait does Burnham have that can be used against him? Even though he may exaggerate his working class credentials, he can't be portrayed as a poshboy like Cameron, nor is he particularly slimy like Blair. He doesn't have the awkward clownishness of Miliband, nor the sternness of Brown. I guess he has funny eyebrows...?
The strongest selling point of Burnham as a potential leader of the party is that he is the least ridiculous character out of the four contenders. When you look at what happened in the last election, one of the main reasons Labour lost so badly was because of Ed Miliband's susceptibility to the media's propaganda - he was like that kid at everyone's school who might as well have walked around with a 'kick me' sign on his back.
What character/image trait does Burnham have that can be used against him? Even though he may exaggerate his working class credentials, he can't be portrayed as a poshboy like Cameron, nor is he particularly slimy like Blair. He doesn't have the awkward clownishness of Miliband, nor the sternness of Brown. I guess he has funny eyebrows...?
He's very dull. If he's gonna be against Osborne, then his normal guy thing could look good against the most obvious lizard person that ever was. If it's someone with personality (blondie), then being dull is a weakness.
Boris would be their best pick I think. The amount of wankers who'd vote for him because "BorisLAD xD" would more than cancel out any potential voters dissuaded by his buffoonery
I'm not sure. He has the potential to screw it up spectacularly.
He's just been advanced £500,000 to write a Shakespeare biography. They'd have been better off giving the money to those hundred monkeys with typewriters.
Not sure if already posted, apologies if so:
Bearing in mind this was at a time Thatcher had called Mandela a terrorist, and David Cameron was living it up on all expenses paid trip to SA, courtesy of the praetorian government.
Bearing in mind this was at a time Thatcher had called Mandela a terrorist, and David Cameron was living it up on all expenses paid trip to SA, courtesy of the praetorian government.
Not sure if already posted, apologies if so:
Bearing in mind this was at a time Thatcher had called Mandela a terrorist, and David Cameron was living it up on all expenses paid trip to SA, courtesy of the praetorian government.
Cool picture, but I trust you're not implying that the anti-apartheid movement was an unusual thing at that time? It was a Labour Party manifesto commitment before he was an MP.
I'd expect it was. Though that's more a reminder of where the party used to be and where it is now. Would the Labour party of today embrace the anti-apartheid movement in the 80s? I'd wager not, not with the Blairite elements at the forefront.
Speaking as an avowed Blairite who campaigned against apartheid in the 80s, that is a highly offensive comment to make.
I'm not personally generalising you or any other Blairite, most of which I'm sure would have been vehemently opposed apartheid then and now. If I've offended you then I apologise that wasn't my intention. What I meant however was under a Blairite leadership, I would have wagered it being highly unlikely that it would be official party policy to oppose something like racial apartheid. I mean this is the same Blair that supports Israeli occupation of the West bank and considers himself good mates with the likes of Hosni Mubarak, Colonel Gaddafi and other delightful gentlemen. One only has to look at Labour's foreign policy under Blair to see where they stand on the moral compass*
* I'll give him the NI peace process, but from 2001 onwards the party hierachy took a heinous turn.
Blair's part in helping Sierra Leone during it's civil war should also be remember.
I have few quarrells with how Blair handled foreign policy from 1997-2001, but from then on it became a neoliberal disaster.
Oh yeah that don't think anyone can disagree with that.
9/11 changed everything and everybody. To ignore this fact is just silly and ignorant.
Context goes out of the window with you lefties as quick as lager turns to piss.
Remind me how many Iraqis were involved in 9/11?
Not sure if already posted, apologies if so:
Bearing in mind this was at a time Thatcher had called Mandela a terrorist, and David Cameron was living it up on all expenses paid trip to SA, courtesy of the praetorian government.
Yet Corbyn refers to Hamas and Hezbollah as friends.
Speaking as a Tory, I hope it gets in.
It's true, though. Blair has dragged Labour so far to the right that should something similar to apartheid raise its head, it's debatable as to whether or not Labour would protest against it.
Its not even debateable these days.
See this recent wonderful input from Blairite favourite Liz Kendall: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...eadership-candidate-liz-kendall-10403675.html
Not surprising, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (apartheid) was what I had in mind.
Jesus Christ, this thread just ate itself.
Not sure if already posted, apologies if so:
Bearing in mind this was at a time Thatcher had called Mandela a terrorist, and David Cameron was living it up on all expenses paid trip to SA, courtesy of the praetorian government.
Not in 1984 he wasnt.
feck it... I'd rather sing The Internationale with fellow hopeless dreamers, whilst feeling I know who I am, than trying to convince myself I support one of those who consider supporting crushing the welfare state a price worth paying for votes.
Corbyn for the win.
Corbyn for the win.
A very, very poor salesman. To even use the term 'friends' to recognised terrorists is appalling (or appealing...depending on your context).
Like Nelson Mandela?
So what Corbyn talks to people who have some pretty disgusting views. He invented Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams to London in the 80's(A head of the curve on this). Corbyn likes to talk things through not matter how extreme the opinion is.
So guilt by association then.
Cameron took an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa while working on policy for the Conservatives paid for by a lobbying company that opposed sanctions against the apartheid regime. He's apologised since and I personally don't think it's indicative of his views... Still seems a little worse than speaking for a group have also had some unpleasant people speak for them.
The greatest delusion of the far left is to think they're the only ones that care.