It’s a general problem of disillusionment (not just political disillusionment) is that it can make you prone to the voices of other illusionists and snake oil purveyors. Life is complicated. Avoid the superficially plausible!
It’s a general problem of disillusionment (not just political disillusionment) is that it can make you prone to the voices of other illusionists and snake oil purveyors. Life is complicated. Avoid the superficially plausible!
At the last election we got leaflets from the parties as follows:
Tories - if elected we will dual the A96.
Labour - if elected we will dual the A96.
SNP - if elected we will dual the A96.
Liberals - if elected we will dual the A96.
Reform - if elected we will stop immigrants landing on the south coast of England.
Which suggests the Reform candidate didn't quite grasp local priorities.
They are changing their stance though. The current trend is for them to claim that local councils are wasting money on 'woke' or environmental issues and promising to resolve that by various loopy-doopy means including doing things that aren't within town or parish councils' powers to administer.
The Tories used to do that to some extent, relying on and exploiting people's lack of awareness of what town or parish councils can actually do and what they are 'for'.
People generally don't know where the first tier of local government ends and the second tier begins.
Whereas the Conservatives used to do that on an industrial scale during local elections, Reform have taken it to an entirely new level of depravity and lack of principle.
If I set up a company selling shoddy goods with misleading information on the tins or packaging I'd be 'done' under the Trades Descriptions Act and consumer protection legislation.
Reform are making all manner of baseless and extravagant claims at a local level in a way I've not even seen the Conservatives approach in terms of unreality.
At a hustings last night for our by-election in a few weeks no one got to listen to Farage or his minions, because the Reform candidate didn't come (didn't even bother to respond to the invitation). No Labour either, who sent a statement for the organisers to read out on his behalf, or LibDem who had a family emergency at the last minute. The Conservative candidate was working and sent a stand in who's already an MSP and spent the evening talking about what he's been doing in the south of Scotland rather than what the candidate would do for a constituency that's half rural (so not much different from South region) and half post-industrial urban Glasgow commuter belt. Which left three candidates from a field of ten - for Scottish Socialists, SNP and Scottish Green Party.
Although, so far the Reform candidate is the only one I've seen on the TV news. So, beyond the 30 or so people there last night and anyone cornered on the doorstep or streets by a candidate, Reform is possibly the only voice voters would have heard during the campaign so far.
Well, at the moment Farage is promising all to everyone - tax breaks, removing the two child cap, and deliveries of four tons of Welsh coal to every pensioner.
I suspect it means he knows he won't be PM at the next GE (thank God) so doesn’t have to deliver.
He seems to be getting some purchase in the Hamilton by-election in Scotland which is shocking.
Voters go on the record to a journalist that he's an 'arsehole' yet are still voting for him as a protest vote against the governing parties. People think they can make these kind of protest votes and the leopards won't eat their faces but they are wrong about that.
They also astonishingly and ignorantly blame 'immigration' for their ills when these are caused by the mainstream parties not tackling deprivation and the erosion of public services. But you also see why they have lost hope in those parties - but they are voting in the wrong direction for more of what is harming them. Reform are no alternative - they are more of the same and much much worse - what they offer is an utterly false solution of the most toxic kind.
Reform were circulating racist lies about the Scottish labour leader on Facebook, I just despair as to what the media diet of people who will vote for them is.
There's also the irony that Anas Sarwar was doing a bit of racism 'valid concerns' himself recently - imitating Keir Starmer.
There are some people who are saying they're voting Reform as a protest for this by-election as "it's only for a year" and won't change the Parliamentary arithmetic. Which is a crap argument, as every vote simply encourages them. At least we've not (yet) come across anyone who's said they thought Christina McKelvie was a great MSP (and, she was) and plan to vote Reform - as though a protest by voting for a party that's diametrically opposed to all she stood for would be a sign of respect for her memory.
While the absence of the Labour candidate has been noted frequently, the Reform candidate has also not been prominent in pounding the streets or attending hustings* - though is apparently taking the opportunity to get on the TV.
We could, I suppose, take solace in the fact that Reform aren't the most objectionable party on the ballot paper for June 5th. Small, indeed very small, comfort though that is.
* Two hustings held in Hamilton to date, and the Conservatives turned up and made idiots of themselves at both. First one the Tory candidate couldn't make it (not unreasonably as he works in health care and was on duty) and the South Scotland sitting MSP substituted for him, and proceeded to talk exclusively about what he has been doing without any mention of what the candidate would do if elected. Last night, without the Labour candidate there was a local councillor substituting for him, and the Tory candidate did turn up but made a show of walking out because he should have been debating with the candidates not a substitute.
Substitutes are not ideal for hustings, people really should be hearing from the candidates, but if the organisers allow it then the substitute really should be someone able to speak for the candidate so that people get at least an idea of what they would have said had they been there - I'd suggest election agent or other local member of the campaign team. Neither Labour or Conservative did themselves any favours by bringing in a sitting politician for that, but with the Cons having already done it, it was a bit rich to walk out because Labour did the same.
Well, at the moment Farage is promising all to everyone - tax breaks, removing the two child cap, and deliveries of four tons of Welsh coal to every pensioner.
I suspect it means he knows he won't be PM at the next GE (thank God) so doesn’t have to deliver.
It seems like the BBC is allowing him to spout this bullshit with very little challenge.
Truth is that Farage isn't going to deliver on any of it. He's not going to volunteer to give child benefits to non-whites. He's not going to give coal to pensioners (there are basically no coal mines in Wales, even if there were there can't be many pensioners with facilities to burn it).
Meanwhile the Greens and the left are marginalised and ridiculed.
Of course, people are making the point that Farage is not costing his ideas. This misses the point, surely, that for him and his supporters, this doesn't matter.
Well, at the moment Farage is promising all to everyone - tax breaks, removing the two child cap, and deliveries of four tons of Welsh coal to every pensioner.
I suspect it means he knows he won't be PM at the next GE (thank God) so doesn’t have to deliver.
It seems like the BBC is allowing him to spout this bullshit with very little challenge.
As I've said previously, there's a weird lacuna in the coverage of Reform that's very hard to ignore once you spot it. The BBC isn't alone in this, none of the press seriously cover Reform except for their immigration policy (and that's almost always vibe based). There's no serious examination of Farage's proposed tax policy, or his ideas on the NHS or the Civil Service, or his cheering on of Truss' ultimately disastrous economic policy. The sole exception is when he actually explicitly says something - as he did recently around bringing in tighter rules on abortion - but then it's forgotten by the next day (similarly Rupert Lowe's dabbling in anti-Semitism).
Truth is that Farage isn't going to deliver on any of it. He's not going to volunteer to give child benefits to non-whites. He's not going to give coal to pensioners (there are basically no coal mines in Wales, even if there were there can't be many pensioners with facilities to burn it).
Of course he isn't, but there are interests which are served by pretending he will do, simply because his actual policies will result in the continuation of wealth being distributed upwards.
They don't actually seriously address Reform's immigration "policy" either. Nobody is asking whether, given his insistence that those arriving "illegally" won't be able to stay, he intends to withdraw from the Refugee Convention, and how he would have responded to the MS St Louis arriving on our shores (depending on the response cries of "hypocrite" or "holocaust enabler" ought to follow).
They don't actually seriously address Reform's immigration "policy" either. Nobody is asking whether, given his insistence that those arriving "illegally" won't be able to stay, he intends to withdraw from the Refugee Convention, and how he would have responded to the MS St Louis arriving on our shores (depending on the response cries of "hypocrite" or "holocaust enabler" ought to follow).
Yeah, as I said, even this issue is treated in a largely vibes based manner - no one asks him how he'd plug skill gaps in the UK economy for instance, or what impact some of his measures might have on growth or the NHS.
GB News recently announced details of a poll that revealed that although Reform are leading in the current polls the situation regarding Farage is complicated. He appears to be the most popular leader when pitted against all the others but also the most unpopular leader.
In a straight fight between just Farage and Starmer, Starmer wins fairly easily. Farage also loses against Davey.
And, there are lots of people saying that they detest Farage but are voting Reform anyway. Does that make sense to anyone? Does anything about Reform make sense?
And, there are lots of people saying that they detest Farage but are voting Reform anyway. Does that make sense to anyone? Does anything about Reform make sense?
Well 2017 Labour candidates arguing that it was ‘safe’ to vote Labour and limit the expected Tory supermajority because Corbyn ‘can’t possibly win’ spring to mind, so there’s probably an element of ‘they’re not going to win so I can vote for them to give Starmer/Badenoch a kicking even though I don’t like/endorse Farage’
And, there are lots of people saying that they detest Farage but are voting Reform anyway. Does that make sense to anyone? Does anything about Reform make sense?
Two possible explanations: first they like the disruption that Trumpist/Faragists would cause. There's that book by Naomi something about disaster capitalism. Which I read a long time ago and had to immediately put away because it scared the excrement out of me. Some people genuinely seem to think that if the political system is bankrupted then something better will emerge.
And the others are just Nazis. Farage doesn't go far enough, they hope he will get his hands on power then they can dispose of him and put in place someone truly ghastly.
And, there are lots of people saying that they detest Farage but are voting Reform anyway. Does that make sense to anyone? Does anything about Reform make sense?
Two possible explanations: first they like the disruption that Trumpist/Faragists would cause.
There's a third possible explanation which gains even more salience in the UK, the party in government saying repeatedly 'it's either us or Reform'.
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up. Rather Liz Trussish. However, people may vote Reform without a clue about their policies, e.g., restrict abortion, privatize NHS, just as they voted Brexit.
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together. Both are truly shocking.
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together.
No, Labour need to get on with governing as a centre-left party, delivering real change to people's lives as stop acting like the election is just around the corner and constantly puffing up Farage (unfortunately they are in the grips of Blue Labour adjacent folk who somehow think that Reform/Labour swing voters - a tiny minority of the Labour vote - are the only part of the electorate worth catering to).
The Conservatives need to get a leader who doesn't spend their life glued to social media - some hope that given the rest of them seem to have gone the same way.
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together.
No, Labour need to get on with governing as a centre-left party, delivering real change to people's lives as stop acting like the election is just around the corner and constantly puffing up Farage (unfortunately they are in the grips of Blue Labour adjacent folk who somehow think that Reform/Labour swing voters - a tiny minority of the Labour vote - are the only part of the electorate worth catering to).
The Conservatives need to get a leader who doesn't spend their life glued to social media - some hope that given the rest of them seem to have gone the same way.
Blue Labour is in charge now. They are learning that they are perhaps too blue by making the voters blue (sad).
Lab and Cons sorting themselves out is part of defeating Reform. I stand by what I said. They could both kill off reform if they got their act together
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together.
No, Labour need to get on with governing as a centre-left party, delivering real change to people's lives as stop acting like the election is just around the corner and constantly puffing up Farage (unfortunately they are in the grips of Blue Labour adjacent folk who somehow think that Reform/Labour swing voters - a tiny minority of the Labour vote - are the only part of the electorate worth catering to).
The Conservatives need to get a leader who doesn't spend their life glued to social media - some hope that given the rest of them seem to have gone the same way.
Blue Labour is in charge now. They are learning that they are perhaps too blue by making the voters blue (sad).
Lab and Cons sorting themselves out is part of defeating Reform. I stand by what I said. They could both kill off reform if they got their act together
Reform is a problem fixed by better outcomes, not better social media.
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together.
No, Labour need to get on with governing as a centre-left party, delivering real change to people's lives as stop acting like the election is just around the corner and constantly puffing up Farage (unfortunately they are in the grips of Blue Labour adjacent folk who somehow think that Reform/Labour swing voters - a tiny minority of the Labour vote - are the only part of the electorate worth catering to).
The Conservatives need to get a leader who doesn't spend their life glued to social media - some hope that given the rest of them seem to have gone the same way.
Blue Labour is in charge now. They are learning that they are perhaps too blue by making the voters blue (sad).
Lab and Cons sorting themselves out is part of defeating Reform. I stand by what I said. They could both kill off reform if they got their act together
Reform is a problem fixed by better outcomes, not better social media.
But outcomes need to be seen. How many people know the successes of this government? They are hardly shown in the main media. Social Media is their best option to get the message out. Reform have both good coverage in the media and a decent presence on Social Media.
I wonder if the wheels are coming off a bit for Farage, as he keeps promising to restore various benefits, and slash taxes, which doesn't add up.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together.
No, Labour need to get on with governing as a centre-left party, delivering real change to people's lives as stop acting like the election is just around the corner and constantly puffing up Farage (unfortunately they are in the grips of Blue Labour adjacent folk who somehow think that Reform/Labour swing voters - a tiny minority of the Labour vote - are the only part of the electorate worth catering to).
The Conservatives need to get a leader who doesn't spend their life glued to social media - some hope that given the rest of them seem to have gone the same way.
Blue Labour is in charge now. They are learning that they are perhaps too blue by making the voters blue (sad).
Lab and Cons sorting themselves out is part of defeating Reform. I stand by what I said. They could both kill off reform if they got their act together
Reform is a problem fixed by better outcomes, not better social media.
But outcomes need to be seen. How many people know the successes of this government? They are hardly shown in the main media. Social Media is their best option to get the message out. Reform have both good coverage in the media and a decent presence on Social Media.
Outcomes need to be felt, I would argue. Higher living standards. Being able to get a GP appointment. Being able to get SEND support for you child and/or not having your child's education disrupted because another child needs support they're not getting. Simply telling people how much better things are if they're not experiencing them doesn't land, as the Democrats discovered recently.
You need both. Any particular measure of government success will only be directly experienced by a small portion of the electorate - access to GP appointments is only going to be experienced by those with health issues who need to see a GP, if you don't have a child needing SEND support then you won't experience the difficulties of getting support, if you don't have children at school (or are a teacher or other worker in schools) then you won't experience the impact on other children of a child not getting SEND support they need. So, if government policies are improving things these need to be accurately reported so that those who are not directly experiencing these improvements know about them, especially when there's been a media narrative telling everyone there's a problem.
There also needs to be effective communication of the real nature of the problems that are being experienced, because otherwise the government responses being reported (assuming they are accurately reported) will either be ineffective (because they're addressing something that's not the cause of the problem) or seen to be misdirected (because they're addressing the causes of the problem, but what people have been told is that the problems have another cause).
Of course, on this aspect, Reform and other groups have hi-jacked the media and created a narrative of misinformation that serves their interests, but by pushing lies they have made actually addressing the problems we experience that much harder. Even worse when the government starts to ape the same lies rather than counter them with accurate information. Examples include a whole range of social issues (lack of/cost of housing, provision of public services such as GPs, crime etc) blamed on immigration when the problems are related to austerity cutting of programmes to build new housing and provide services, and also the delegation of responsibility for these to private business (eg; for housing there's no incentive for house builders to significantly reduce demand for housing, as that would reduce the price they can charge for a new house); ascribing costs of energy to renewables (whereas renewables produces energy at much lower costs, but these savings are not passed onto consumers because the wholesale price for electricity is set by marginal cost pricing mechanism is pegged to the most expensive means of generation, currently burning gas); etc
Would "blue Labour" be more or less synonymous with "Red Tories"?
Yes, they originally formed in 2011 and at the time Cameron-era Conservatism was supposed influenced by Philip Blond - a self identified 'Red Tory',. 'Blue Labour' was derived from this, both to indicate opposition and proximity.
Would "blue Labour" be more or less synonymous with "Red Tories"?
Yes, they originally formed in 2011 and at the time Cameron-era Conservatism was supposed influenced by Philip Blond - a self identified 'Red Tory',. 'Blue Labour' was derived from this, both to indicate opposition and proximity.
I remember thinking that Blond’s 2009 book, Red Tory, was actually surprisingly well written and persuasive in terms of arguing for a return to the policies of the Labour Party right of the early 1950s, but carried out through the left of the Tory party.
The slight missing factors were how we got there from here, and also how likely (not very) any of it was to either happen or stick…
According to one of the Conservative Councillors on our County Council, Reform have cancelled all council meetings this month and haven't yet decided who is going to be taking which portfolio. Doesn't bode well for efficiency in local government, specially when you add in the £25,000 wasted on having to have another byelection due to the newly elected councillor changing his mind.
Would "blue Labour" be more or less synonymous with "Red Tories"?
Yes, they originally formed in 2011 and at the time Cameron-era Conservatism was supposed influenced by Philip Blond - a self identified 'Red Tory',. 'Blue Labour' was derived from this, both to indicate opposition and proximity.
I remember thinking that Blond’s 2009 book, Red Tory, was actually surprisingly well written and persuasive in terms of arguing for a return to the policies of the Labour Party right of the early 1950s, but carried out through the left of the Tory party.
The slight missing factors were how we got there from here, and also how likely (not very) any of it was to either happen or stick…
For the same reasons I found it unconvincing. It was never clear how he envisaged that 1950s economic ideas would be implemented in a different political economy and one which was significantly more financialised. Similarly it was left unsaid exactly how the middle classes would be encouraged to return to an earlier set of values (his ideal world being one in which the social changes of the 60s wouldn't have happened). I also suspected that had he got the 50s industrial policy he hankered after he'd have been complaining that it didn't leave enough space for the 'little platoons' ...
The financial crisis provided space for such ideas to emerge, but the reality is that at best they were used to provide cover for austerity. Similarly, Blue Labour don't have much of an industrial policy beyond closing half the universities and wishing that the industrials jobs re-appear (completely unchanged - I doubt if Carden et al have even seen a modern factory).
They represent only a handful of MPs with Glasman and Rutherford as intellectuals. That they are getting a lot of press currently is a choice on the part of the media to frame certain ideas as alternatives and not others.
Comments
I wouldn't give them the let out of an excuse.
That sounds plausible to me!
Tories - if elected we will dual the A96.
Labour - if elected we will dual the A96.
SNP - if elected we will dual the A96.
Liberals - if elected we will dual the A96.
Reform - if elected we will stop immigrants landing on the south coast of England.
Which suggests the Reform candidate didn't quite grasp local priorities.
The Tories used to do that to some extent, relying on and exploiting people's lack of awareness of what town or parish councils can actually do and what they are 'for'.
People generally don't know where the first tier of local government ends and the second tier begins.
Whereas the Conservatives used to do that on an industrial scale during local elections, Reform have taken it to an entirely new level of depravity and lack of principle.
If I set up a company selling shoddy goods with misleading information on the tins or packaging I'd be 'done' under the Trades Descriptions Act and consumer protection legislation.
Reform are making all manner of baseless and extravagant claims at a local level in a way I've not even seen the Conservatives approach in terms of unreality.
Although, so far the Reform candidate is the only one I've seen on the TV news. So, beyond the 30 or so people there last night and anyone cornered on the doorstep or streets by a candidate, Reform is possibly the only voice voters would have heard during the campaign so far.
I suspect it means he knows he won't be PM at the next GE (thank God) so doesn’t have to deliver.
Voters go on the record to a journalist that he's an 'arsehole' yet are still voting for him as a protest vote against the governing parties. People think they can make these kind of protest votes and the leopards won't eat their faces but they are wrong about that.
They also astonishingly and ignorantly blame 'immigration' for their ills when these are caused by the mainstream parties not tackling deprivation and the erosion of public services. But you also see why they have lost hope in those parties - but they are voting in the wrong direction for more of what is harming them. Reform are no alternative - they are more of the same and much much worse - what they offer is an utterly false solution of the most toxic kind.
Reform were circulating racist lies about the Scottish labour leader on Facebook, I just despair as to what the media diet of people who will vote for them is.
There's also the irony that Anas Sarwar was doing a bit of racism 'valid concerns' himself recently - imitating Keir Starmer.
It's not good.
While the absence of the Labour candidate has been noted frequently, the Reform candidate has also not been prominent in pounding the streets or attending hustings* - though is apparently taking the opportunity to get on the TV.
We could, I suppose, take solace in the fact that Reform aren't the most objectionable party on the ballot paper for June 5th. Small, indeed very small, comfort though that is.
* Two hustings held in Hamilton to date, and the Conservatives turned up and made idiots of themselves at both. First one the Tory candidate couldn't make it (not unreasonably as he works in health care and was on duty) and the South Scotland sitting MSP substituted for him, and proceeded to talk exclusively about what he has been doing without any mention of what the candidate would do if elected. Last night, without the Labour candidate there was a local councillor substituting for him, and the Tory candidate did turn up but made a show of walking out because he should have been debating with the candidates not a substitute.
Substitutes are not ideal for hustings, people really should be hearing from the candidates, but if the organisers allow it then the substitute really should be someone able to speak for the candidate so that people get at least an idea of what they would have said had they been there - I'd suggest election agent or other local member of the campaign team. Neither Labour or Conservative did themselves any favours by bringing in a sitting politician for that, but with the Cons having already done it, it was a bit rich to walk out because Labour did the same.
It seems like the BBC is allowing him to spout this bullshit with very little challenge.
Truth is that Farage isn't going to deliver on any of it. He's not going to volunteer to give child benefits to non-whites. He's not going to give coal to pensioners (there are basically no coal mines in Wales, even if there were there can't be many pensioners with facilities to burn it).
Meanwhile the Greens and the left are marginalised and ridiculed.
This country.
As I've said previously, there's a weird lacuna in the coverage of Reform that's very hard to ignore once you spot it. The BBC isn't alone in this, none of the press seriously cover Reform except for their immigration policy (and that's almost always vibe based). There's no serious examination of Farage's proposed tax policy, or his ideas on the NHS or the Civil Service, or his cheering on of Truss' ultimately disastrous economic policy. The sole exception is when he actually explicitly says something - as he did recently around bringing in tighter rules on abortion - but then it's forgotten by the next day (similarly Rupert Lowe's dabbling in anti-Semitism).
Of course he isn't, but there are interests which are served by pretending he will do, simply because his actual policies will result in the continuation of wealth being distributed upwards.
Yeah, as I said, even this issue is treated in a largely vibes based manner - no one asks him how he'd plug skill gaps in the UK economy for instance, or what impact some of his measures might have on growth or the NHS.
In a straight fight between just Farage and Starmer, Starmer wins fairly easily. Farage also loses against Davey.
Well 2017 Labour candidates arguing that it was ‘safe’ to vote Labour and limit the expected Tory supermajority because Corbyn ‘can’t possibly win’ spring to mind, so there’s probably an element of ‘they’re not going to win so I can vote for them to give Starmer/Badenoch a kicking even though I don’t like/endorse Farage’
Well yes, who doesn't like a bit of monster racing? Would you be betting on the minotaur or the troll?
For some reason I keep imagining Farages face superimposed.
Ah ok, I thought that was a weird policy I hadn't heard of. I'm getting too old.
Two possible explanations: first they like the disruption that Trumpist/Faragists would cause. There's that book by Naomi something about disaster capitalism. Which I read a long time ago and had to immediately put away because it scared the excrement out of me. Some people genuinely seem to think that if the political system is bankrupted then something better will emerge.
And the others are just Nazis. Farage doesn't go far enough, they hope he will get his hands on power then they can dispose of him and put in place someone truly ghastly.
There's a third possible explanation which gains even more salience in the UK, the party in government saying repeatedly 'it's either us or Reform'.
This rather comes down to the press suddenly engaging in a period of Great Noticing and highlighting this, doesn't it.
Yes, maybe the right wing press are nostalgic for Tories.
The right wing press don’t want to look like idiots. They will only back something so far. They are safe at the moment. Farage can say what he likes. He is unlikely to get in. Lab and Cons have enough ammunition to bring down Reform. They just need to get their social media act together. Both are truly shocking.
No, Labour need to get on with governing as a centre-left party, delivering real change to people's lives as stop acting like the election is just around the corner and constantly puffing up Farage (unfortunately they are in the grips of Blue Labour adjacent folk who somehow think that Reform/Labour swing voters - a tiny minority of the Labour vote - are the only part of the electorate worth catering to).
The Conservatives need to get a leader who doesn't spend their life glued to social media - some hope that given the rest of them seem to have gone the same way.
Lab and Cons sorting themselves out is part of defeating Reform. I stand by what I said. They could both kill off reform if they got their act together
Reform is a problem fixed by better outcomes, not better social media.
But outcomes need to be seen. How many people know the successes of this government? They are hardly shown in the main media. Social Media is their best option to get the message out. Reform have both good coverage in the media and a decent presence on Social Media.
Outcomes need to be felt, I would argue. Higher living standards. Being able to get a GP appointment. Being able to get SEND support for you child and/or not having your child's education disrupted because another child needs support they're not getting. Simply telling people how much better things are if they're not experiencing them doesn't land, as the Democrats discovered recently.
There also needs to be effective communication of the real nature of the problems that are being experienced, because otherwise the government responses being reported (assuming they are accurately reported) will either be ineffective (because they're addressing something that's not the cause of the problem) or seen to be misdirected (because they're addressing the causes of the problem, but what people have been told is that the problems have another cause).
Of course, on this aspect, Reform and other groups have hi-jacked the media and created a narrative of misinformation that serves their interests, but by pushing lies they have made actually addressing the problems we experience that much harder. Even worse when the government starts to ape the same lies rather than counter them with accurate information. Examples include a whole range of social issues (lack of/cost of housing, provision of public services such as GPs, crime etc) blamed on immigration when the problems are related to austerity cutting of programmes to build new housing and provide services, and also the delegation of responsibility for these to private business (eg; for housing there's no incentive for house builders to significantly reduce demand for housing, as that would reduce the price they can charge for a new house); ascribing costs of energy to renewables (whereas renewables produces energy at much lower costs, but these savings are not passed onto consumers because the wholesale price for electricity is set by marginal cost pricing mechanism is pegged to the most expensive means of generation, currently burning gas); etc
"Blue" is an odd one. You'd think their colours would be red and white, perhaps with a black motiff.
Yes, just reading about it. I don't feel disappointed really, that what Labour is.
Yes, they originally formed in 2011 and at the time Cameron-era Conservatism was supposed influenced by Philip Blond - a self identified 'Red Tory',. 'Blue Labour' was derived from this, both to indicate opposition and proximity.
I remember thinking that Blond’s 2009 book, Red Tory, was actually surprisingly well written and persuasive in terms of arguing for a return to the policies of the Labour Party right of the early 1950s, but carried out through the left of the Tory party.
The slight missing factors were how we got there from here, and also how likely (not very) any of it was to either happen or stick…
For the same reasons I found it unconvincing. It was never clear how he envisaged that 1950s economic ideas would be implemented in a different political economy and one which was significantly more financialised. Similarly it was left unsaid exactly how the middle classes would be encouraged to return to an earlier set of values (his ideal world being one in which the social changes of the 60s wouldn't have happened). I also suspected that had he got the 50s industrial policy he hankered after he'd have been complaining that it didn't leave enough space for the 'little platoons' ...
The financial crisis provided space for such ideas to emerge, but the reality is that at best they were used to provide cover for austerity. Similarly, Blue Labour don't have much of an industrial policy beyond closing half the universities and wishing that the industrials jobs re-appear (completely unchanged - I doubt if Carden et al have even seen a modern factory).
They represent only a handful of MPs with Glasman and Rutherford as intellectuals. That they are getting a lot of press currently is a choice on the part of the media to frame certain ideas as alternatives and not others.