Jim Waterson Verified account @ jimwaterson
Audio of (most of) Corbyn’s speech to pol hacks. Man himself is now serving drinks, which is bribery and great.
The aforementioned super leader Alan Johnson is being suggested for next Labour leader when the Bitterites _inevitably _oust Jezza.
File under “would love to see them try”. Getting a bit depressing now. John Woodcock, MP Labour for Barrow in Furness, is on Twitter this morning whining about JC’s comments about those that clapped Hilary Benn’s speech.
Even if the case were watertight, and it’s a long way off that, MPs shouldn’t be cheering for war. When the British government declared war on Germany in 1914, all but one of Asquith’s ministers were ashen-faced at the prospect. Not learned much in 101 years, have we?
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This is something that I find really irksome. War should be the absolute final option. When absolutely every other viable option has been completely exhausted, and it should be seen as sad it has come to such a decision.
Granted, I’m a big naive, soft, liberal and oppose violence in pretty much every form. But the apparent clamour and glee with which a number of politicians wish to rush to war I think extremely disturbing. That’s not really a pointed comment, this applies across the spectrum and across the a number of nations. But yeah, it churns my stomach.
I’d extend that to those non-politicians who are more than happy to say “send in the troops, blow the lot of 'em up”, who never have any fucking intention of joining the forces themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’d never personally want to sign up for service myself - a good friend from school went straight into the military from school, served in both Afghan & Iraq the few snippets he’s spoken about sound hellish - but I’d also never be in any rush to send troops in anywhere.
It’s easy to act the big, brave man whilst risking the lives of others.
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Those that fought in the bloody and mostly pointless First World War certainly knew the realities. Those that experienced the Blitz will have seen the effects of war first-hand. I think a huge part of the problem we have today is that war has become sanitised, background noise, and while we have experienced terror attacks, we haven’t known anything like what the people in Syria are going for since the 1940s. Probably not even then, because although we were being bombed, we didn’t have a civil war going on and a load of nutters going mental in large parts of the country.
It’s no coincidence that most of the welfare state was constructed in the aftermath of the Second World War. People with actual experience of war had had enough. Most of us won’t ever see it, which is what allows many to be so blasé about it, and politicians to do the British version of a fucking “yeehah” in the Commons.
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The Sun have been ordered to print a front page apology over some of their Corbyn coverage. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer paper 
I’ve had a busy couple of days so haven’t really been able to do any political stuff. The forum temporarily sighed with relief. It’s back, and there has been plenty going on in the Labour camp, if reports are to be taken seriously.
First off, it looks as if the Shadow Cabinet is going to undergo a New Year mini-reshuffle, with Angela Eagle and Hillary Benn most likely to be escorted to the back benches. There is also talk of the chief whip being demoted. I think it is a shame; as the co-runner of a discussion forum, I think dissent can be healthy. In this instance, particularly with Angela Eagle*, I think it’s justified on the public evidence alone. She’s clearly hedging her bets when she talks about “working with the leader we’ve got”.
Benn is going to be a bigger deal, especially after the praise he got for his speech on Syria in the media, but Corbyn is already understood to have made the “seismic” decision to replace him. I said earlier it’s a shame, but perhaps it was an inevitable one. You can’t have the shadow cabinet briefing against the leader of the opposition. These decisions are almost certainly underpinned by a great deal more information than is in the public domain. Time will tell if they’re the right ones.
My worry, as someone that wants to see Corbyn elected as PM, is that we might have over-promoted loyalists at the top of the party. I don’t think Diane Abbott has handled herself that badly since Corbyn’s election win, but she’s dropped some right clangers in the past, and is open to charges of hypocrisy after professing the virtues of comprehensive education and sending her kid to a private school. If she gets a top job, she becomes more of a target.
*true story: she sent campaign literature to my house without a postage stamp. I shamed her on Twitter and she ended up giving the postage I had to pay to Sotonians’ charity!
The fact that Corbyn sees fit to promote Diane Abbott, says more about Corbyn’s judgement than it does his potential for an election win. That woman is stupid on an incredible level yet Corbyn wants to put her in a position of power! WTseriousF!
I guess if they’re going to self implode, better it be done quick and dramatically. Abbott will help that immensely.
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Much as I am not a massive Corbyn fan, from a Labour party wide perspective, Benn seems like he could be a very decent senior cabinet member. Ditch him because he disagrees with the leader on a single topic (albeit an extremely difficult and important one)? That seems very short sighted to me, even before taking into account how much support Benn had for his stance and his speech.
Agree with Lou re Abbott. Self implosion awaits on both counts.
PS dipped back into a politics thread 
. A couple of days left before resolutions kick in…
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I thought he was happy to have healthy debates and disagreements in the PLP. Looks like he is wising up to the fact that idealism has no practical application in front bench politics.
Can someone tell me how on earth Hilary Benn would make a better Labour leader? He is famous for three things; being his dad’s son, not sharing his dad’s foreign policy views and a speech that could be dismantled by GCSE 20th history students.
I would love to see, for example, which dictionary he is getting his definition of the word “fascist” from, because it doesn’t match the pre-war definition, the merging of corporate and state interests to achieve collectively what neither can achieve alone. It doesn’t match the post-war definition either, which tends to get conflated with Nazism.
If I’d heard that speech at fifteen, I’d have known he was talking shit on the definitions at least. At the age of forty, I’ve got a fair idea of why he’s talking shit. In my opinion, Benn’s speech on Syria was more political posturing for the leadership than any genuine concern to resolve the situation in the interests of the Syrian people. Perhaps I’m over-reaching; perhaps he genuinely believes Cameron’s plan will work, and that like Cameron, he knows better than the MoD when it comes to the ground support on which this operation rests.
If Benn voted for Syria with a clear conscience and out of genuine conviction, then he’s got no place leading the Labour Party. While the PLP have taken a different stance, the majority of the party is anti-war. Membership numbers plummeted after Blair railroaded us into Iraq. Unless we’re going back to the bad old days of just ignoring whatever the membership thinks, I don’t see how he leads the party with that stance.
If my suspicion is correct, and he’s using Corbyn’s perceived weakness on foreign policy to oust him, then he is even less suitable to be the leader of the Labour Party. If someone is genuinely prepared to vote for war to resolve an internal party dispute, I’m not even sure they get to be a morally driven human being.
In other words, he’d be perfect for a New Labour revival. The problem he has is that the vast majority of the party want to break ties with that age.
Labour MP suspended for allegedly sending sexually explicit messages to a 17 year old.
http://nr.news-republic.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=4&articleid=54923644&source=drive
Originally posted by @pap
I would love to see, for example, which dictionary he is getting his definition of the word “fascist” from
Barry’s?
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Could have been worse, he could have been caught pleasuring a dead farmyard animal.
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Love this line at the end:
Jon Craig, Sky News’ chief political correspondent called the news “a bizarre twist” and said it is worth noting that Mr Danczuk is a critic of leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Couldn’t just be, y’know, that’s a pretty inappropriate thing to do?
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That’ll be Simon “I love publicity and hate Corbyn” Danczuk. The bloke has been writing opinion pieces for right wing newspapers, appeared in photos out on the town with his new missus and his old one, recently got into hot water for posting ridiculous selfies with his new missus while some of his constituents were flooded out of their homes on Boxing Day.
He’s a publicity seeking arsehole; this episode will do no favours to uncovering paedophilia within the establishment, a cause he has occasionally been vocal about.
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Is he suggesting that if you support Corbyn you’d get away with propositioning 17 year old girls?
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Hmmm
Sophena Houlihan, the 17-year-old who has accused Danczuk of sending her the texts, told The Sun: "When I first got in touch I never expected the messages to get so graphic. At the time I played along with it, but now I feel like he duped me.
She added: “I enjoyed the attention. There is something about him that I was attracted to.”
So why was she applying for the job via text, and then she “played along with it”, honey trap anyone?
And is it wrong to send explicit texts to an “of age” adult that, as it appears, was responding in the positive?
17 is legal. You are allowed to send 17yr olds photos of your cock. And that works the other way as well, girls can send photos of their fannies.
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Labour Chief whip given Damehood, will Jezzer dare to move her?
BTW that’s a really unfortunate photo of her and Tony in that article, looks really snuggly in there…