https://www.ft.com/content/f2420a36-9966-11e8-9702-5946bae86e6d
As was predicted 3 years ago when he took over.
Lol. It’s behind a paywall, Shirty.
When Corbyn comes to power all newspapers will be free to read…and state-controlled - you’re a person of interest.
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It’s the usual hatchet piece for those that live in an msm bubble.
And here it is.
Jeremy Corbyn is failing Britain with inept opposition
The Labour party is mired in a racism scandal at a critical juncture for the country
As so often happens with political fringes, Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has disappeared into an ideological rabbit hole © Charlie Bibby/FT
yesterday
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Rarely has the UK been in greater need of an effective opposition. Theresa May’s government is making a mess of Brexit — unable to secure progress in Brussels or compromise at home. Her Conservative party has descended into internecine warfare over what kind of relationship it wants with the EU. The Labour party should be holding this flailing administration to account with pointed criticism and clear policy alternatives.
Yet at one of the most consequential moments in modern British history, the opposition is absent. The blame lies with its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who has again raised questions about his suitability to lead a serious political party, let alone run a G7 economy. While Labour’s Brexit stance remains convoluted, the latest crisis has been over the party’s recurrent problem with anti-Semitism.
This saga has flared up again following publication of the party’s new code of conduct defining anti-Semitism. The obvious course of action would have been to adopt in full the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, as has been done by the UK government, the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, and over 130 local councils. Yet Mr Corbyn adopted the IHRA definition minus four key examples of anti-Semitism — such as accusing British Jews of being more loyal to Israel than the UK. This has given continued space for age-old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to flourish on the fringes of the party.
Many of Mr Corbyn’s diehard supporters believe the controversy is a non-issue, whipped up to destroy their idol. But this is hard to maintain when Tom Watson, his deputy, warned on Sunday that the party faced “disappearing into a vortex of eternal shame” if it did not rid itself of anti-Semitism. Instead of heeding this warning, the leader’s fans pounced on Mr Watson, demanding his resignation. These activists would do well to see that attacking someone combating racism is detrimental to the party.
As so often happens with political fringes, Labour under Mr Corbyn’s leadership has disappeared into an ideological rabbit hole. Very few in the mainstream think there is a debate to be had in 2018 about what is and is not anti-Semitism. But this is exactly what Mr Corbyn is doing. By defying the full IHRA definition, Labour risks being seen as trying to justify language that would normally be regarded as anti-Semitic — giving extremists permission to continue their campaigns. Some MPs have spoken out about his attitude, including the veteran anti-racism campaigner Margaret Hodge. Yet instead of being listened to, she has been the subject of disciplinary proceedings.
On this issue, Mr Corbyn has consistently demonstrated the wrong instincts. Instead of focusing on punishing those espousing hate, the opposition leader appears chiefly concerned with batting away criticism of his actions. His supporters, too, increasingly resemble a personality cult, taking any criticism of Mr Corbyn personally. This is unhealthy both for Labour and for Britain’s public life.
The solution is straightforward. Mr Corbyn should listen to his deputy and Jewish community leaders. He should adopt the full IHRA definition, end the vindictive disciplinary action against MPs, and respond quicker to any future accusations of anti-Semitism. If not, MPs may force his hand when parliament returns in September and prompt a stand-off with the leadership. Sadly, Mr Corbyn seems unwilling to confront his own worst tendencies. At such a perilous time for Britain, both his party and country deserve better.
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You should work for a forward thinking company
I thnk the title says everything about what the contents of the article
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You’ve got to say, as a hit piece, it’s a complete waste of money.
Paywalled to the general public, and will be seen by the 190k or so of the FT’s circulation. I am guessing that they’re not natural Corbyn voters anyway.
This is not going to go away - Hodge will rebutt. They don’t get it. All their one-upmanship does is perpetuate the story.
On a separate point, why has it taken almost a month to handle a disciplinary case which, on face value, is relatively straight forward. Ie she is supposed to have been abusive to Corbyn. This doesn’t help.
She had a terrible reputation prior to this event anyway. This is manufactured outrage, and it strikes me as very odd that Labour have a policy which goes further than most, along with internal disciplinary procedures, and are getting pilloried.
The Conservatives don’t even have a policy for this, and they’re alright. Meanwhile, Trump describes “good people” on both sides at an openly racist rally.
It is shit, but i’ll keep paying(occasional thought provoking piece). £1 for a one month trial. Cancel instantly, then renew 5 or 6 weeks later(I couldn’t believe it let me either, but it does. Even Spotify doesn’t fall for that anymore).
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I have tended to keep out of the anti-semitism rubbish as its not something I know much about - however, I think the Labour party and Corbyn in particular is being extremely clever with this tactic.
If someone is racist or xenophobic, you can probably bet your bottom dollar that they are also anti-semitic. Corbyn is just trying to appeal to the 52%.
Just as we saw with the non-AS stuff directed at Corbyn, there comes a moment when people don’t believe it anymore. I’m always encouraged by these takedowns of the pro-Israeli lobby from members of the Jewish community, even though these folk take tremendous personal shit to do so.
Oddly enough, an anti-Zionist rabbi was beaten and had his property destroyed in Manchester about a decade ago. I’d not be at all surprised if that open letter came from people that were outraged about his treatment then, and Corbyn’s treatment now.
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Hodge used Parliamentary Privilege and weasel words in her Guardian piece to make it legally difficult to prosecute. There is also, of course, the immense damage that an internecine conflict over alleged antisemitism would do in a time where the party is being falsely accused of antisemitism.
I’m not going to say that there are no anti-Semites in the Labour Party. How could I claim to know? What I do know is that expressing those views in any sort of communal capacity, official, affiliated or otherwise, would get you chucked out of any meeting you happened to be in, probably with a stream of reports to your local party bigwigs.
I think if there is one potential failing of Corbyn, it’s the lack of follow through on one of his biggest assets; his ability to circumvent traditional media. He could have, and should have, in my opinion, stood firm on a lot of these very dubious suspensions or dismissals, and used the public interest to create a platform for debate.
Whatever else he is, he’s the leader of the opposition. He deserves that right, and I think everyone on this forum would back him to address the issue sensitively, and that everyone on this forum would know he’d be quoted out of context and blown up all over the news. I’m not speaking for everyone on this forum. These are just my thoughts.
He is, alternately, unelectable when he is behind in the polls, and suddenly an existential threat and/or a tacit/active supporter of antisemitism when he’s ahead.
Regardless of personal politics, I think most Brits have a keen sense of sniffing bollocks out when it’s in their midst.
If our compatriots believed our political masters or the BBC, the dominant force in our media, we’d be remaining in the EU right now and Theresa May would have a 200 seat majority.
We don’t believe them anymore. Cleese was on Newsnight recently haranguing Emily Maitland about our press trust index. It’s the lowest in Europe, at around 23%.
What on earth makes you think that?
- I don’t think many people have a clue
- This somewhat contradicts your continual slamming of MSM, which is where most people get their information from.
- The 48/52 brexit vote shows that the country was split… some people on both sides couldn’t sniff out the bullshit (I didn’t want to bring up the bus again…but the bus…)
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I’m confused, @Fatso. My post was not unqualified. We have the lowest public trust in our domestic media, in Europe. Take that with all the usual caveats, small poll samples, etc, but we’ve far more extensive polling than that, including the EU referendum and the general election of last year.
I note that you took the time to quote a bit of my post.
Why on earth didn’t you quote the bits which addressed your concerns, such as Remain’s inevitable win or May’s nailed-on landslide, and how reality conflicted with the media bullshit?
I’m just taking issue with your point that the British public is good at sniffing out bollocks. I don’t think they are.
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And I’ve given you two events in which they’ve demonstrably chucked up the propaganda they’ve been fed.
For the sake of a decent argument, let’s avoid the EU referendum and just look at last year’s General Election. That was a predicted May landslide. She ended up losing her majority and having to saddle up with cultural extremists in Northern Ireland.
If folk had believed the shit about Corbyn at the time of press, there is no way he could have achieved that result.
But he didn’t win. People voted for austerity and cuts and life being shitter. That doesn’t seem like people sniffing out bollocks. That seems like people falling for the same old shit.
And why would we forget the referendum? It’s the perfect example of people not being to tell when they’re being hoodwinked (like I say…on both sides). Someone’s bullshitting but who?
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The projection was the death of the Labour Party at his hands. Take a look at The Summer That Changed Everything, the documentary on the Labour election last year.
The problem with a simple statement like “he didn’t win” cries out for a bit of context, which your post clearly doesn’t take into account. There are reports that the General Secretary of the Labour Party was defunding marginals, FFS.