The predictable onslaught is underway. The enemies of Labour and of progress are salivating and cavorting like a forum mob, big foul mouthed hairy characters in kilts reeking of whiskey can be found in gutters everywhere and the men are every bit as bad.
The road to freedom and independence it would seem does not run through Govan, Hamilton or Perth but it does apparently run through the East End of Glasgow, who would have thunk it. The old East End, world famous as a shrine to one of the world’s great football institutions, ’Shettleston Juniors’ now the road to Damascus for nationalist pilgrims but, there’s always a but isn’t there.
Have we been here before? unfortunately for the Nats. yes we have, I don’t want to rain on their parade but, By Election swings of this size do not reappear at general elections and if history is to be our guide it will return to Labour in due course, this depends on certain things and probably the best way to achieve this is for Gordon and the party big hitters to start reading my blog. You see, I am the man on the ‘Clapham Omnibus’ I am the man that they have to convince that they really are who they say they are, and I want to know if you really are the Labour Party, founded by Keir Hardy, served by Nye Bevan, Tony Benn, Michael Foot and generations of my bloody family.
Do you stand for fairness? show it, put out a hand to the poor, equality? do something about the obscene wealth, which sits alongside obscene poverty, education? open up opportunities starting with the institutions which sustain the rich and guarantee them success, housing? start building affordable homes ASAP, crime? get out of the ‘act tough’ rat race, embrace proper prison reform, war? no more! stop listening to the bellicose Americans and scrap the obscenity that is Trident. I could go on but you get my drift.
Above all tell the world that we are a Socialist Govt. and act like one, stop trying to win over the press, that is never going to work it’s their press not ours, tell the world what we stand for and what we believe in and go for it. The Labour Govt. has a lot to be proud of over the last eleven years and the ruling class barbarians are now at the gates, the Eton educated upper class braying donkeys in the Tory Party are sharpening the knives, aided and abetted by the ‘system’ which says we are “in Govt. but never in power”
Now is the time to defy them and show them that we still have the courage and the stomach for the fight, we owe it to the people who built this country and the Labour Movement who gave us the progress that we enjoy, the Labour Movement is a slumbering giant waiting to be rejuvenated, our core values are worth fighting for we can ‘rise like lions from our slumbers’
The threatening kid on the street corner might have discovered a cure for cancer or become an inspirational teacher if he/she had not dropped out of education because of his/her background. That is a criminal waste of potential, how many have there been? How many more?
Let’s do it, as another Labour member said recently let’s “bring it on” it is time comrades, for the fight back, remember “we are many and they are few” and we are Labour.
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42 comments:
It sound to me like "We are loonies and we are pround!"
Terry, you are NOT the man on the Clapham bus - you are Neanderthal Man back from the dead.
'Eton Toffs' aren't going to defeat Labour. Ordinary decent folk, fed up with Labours lies and sheer incompetence are going to do that and because we're in the majority, the Class Warrior vote is never going to be enough to keep Labour in power and neither is that of the workshy.
So stop screaming 'Privilege,' look at Labours record over the past ten years, starting with the 'Pretty straight kind of guy,' and weep for your party.
Que, New Labour theme tune Jerusalem.
Terry dear boy, check out all your so called big hitters, they all went to posh public schools including Eton. your new leader in waiting Ed Milliband (daddy was a middle class Marxist) attended Corpus Christi, Oxford. no doubt another 'socialist' who never missed a meal in his life.
You never opened your gob when you pushed and supported New Labour and were party to its activities for 11 years, now times look tough you want to bale out and kid on New Labour was an aberration
why didnt you resign on many opportunities to do so on your principles? was the money too good?
The predictable onslaught is underway. The enemies of Labour and of progress are salivating and cavorting like a forum mob, big foul mouthed hairy characters in kilts reeking of whiskey can be found in gutters everywhere and the men are every bit as bad.
Funny, because I could've sworn your blog header features the following blurb:
The view from Left field, politics, entertainment, argument and insight into my world. For Socialism, peace and justice, against racism, sexism, sectarianism, nationalism and discrimination. Avanti Poplo!
But how about that eh? A socialist doing one thing and saying another? A bit like one who is willing to live by the socialist "ideal", as long as he is living the more equal than others side of it...
Cllr Kelly, there is a bit if panic in the air, right enough, if you read the papers and consider all the squealing about a wipeout for Labour. Nats and Tories and no doubt from under their rocks the BNP are drooling away. Maybe Gordon should start reading your blog - I dunno - but people do need reminding why we joined and are in the party.
We lost Glasgow East because lots of people perceived us as having taken them for granted, and lots of them felt, as maybe they didn't before, that the nats had something to offer. The BNP play a similar role in bits of England, and the resurgent "caring" tories also are cottoning on.
Add to this the perception that the sitting MP had his fingers in the till and was lining his family's pockets, and that many of our policies appear to favour the rich over ordinary people incuding their neighbours, and you have the recipe for this rout, even with a great candidate like Margaret Curran.
We need to be a bit brutal with some comrades elsewhere who don't get it and think they are entitled to a career as an elected member. The former MP in Glasgow East was an example of what had to change. He was a very nice man, but very settled, and as we probably know he mishandled the public's money at the very least. We haven't been exempt from this kind of nonsense in Renfrewshire either, as you know, but the Renfrewshire Labour MPs and MSPs are a huge improvement on some of their predecessors.
I think you are right that we have to spell out distinctive solutions and they need to be tied to our traditions, the reasons we joined the party and some of us still work for it. But Jim Murphy speaking on the STV election broadcast made the point that voters won't vote for us out of gratitude for the past. And we have treated working class electors as if they had nowhere to turn but us and we've cultivated swing voters in swing constituencies. Jim knows more about keeping swing voters than any of us!
Many voters are open to the idea that the nats and tories can improve their lives for the better, bur we need to avoid negative campaigning - they will do enough of that and they are obnoxious enough - and articulate the positive.
I personally don't think we can do this with the present leadership.
Kelly, if you are a Socialist what are you doing in the Labour Party ?
The good people of the east end of Glasgow have woken up to the fact that New Labour are if fact the New Tories, remember your great leader and his day at number 10 courting Thatcher ?
Roll on the next elections, to borrow a phrase from Wendy, 'bring it on'
I will be amazed if you post this comment
Terry, you just do not get it, do you?
It's over. The Labour Party sold it's soul when it elected the faux TV Evangelist Tony Blair as it's leader. It abandoned all it's socialist principals in it's ever increasingly desparate attempt to gain power. It was not so much that LAbour won the general election in 97 but rather the Tories imploded and lost it.
Now the same is happening to Labour except on a grander scale. Rather than declare themselves a socialist government, they have hidden behind the sofa at the very mention of the word. They have been exposed as the worst kind of socialists - champagne socialists. Seduced by the trappings of power they cannot find it within themselves to let go.
The by-election was no close run thing, the SNP has to garner at least 14000 more votes than Labour to overturn the 13500 majority. That in itself is no mean feat. Mr. Mason may be no spotlight MP but by all accounts is an impressive performer at local council level. People have had enough of the Labour Govt., telling them what to eat, what not to eat, and how much to eat, drink, smoke, drive, throw away etc.
The delicious irony is that it is 6 weeks or thereabouts to the conference season. 42 days for the Labour Party to cogitate on the future of Gordon Brown.
"Bring it on" you say. We'll the wee labour party activist that uttered those words at Holyrood has been sent packing. Bring it on indeed.
(Anonymous) 26/07/08
And here’s me thinking I was advocating socialist policies.
Well if you have ever seen 'Taking Over the Asylum' there are indeed some very strong humanist, and dare I say socialist principles there!
(Macnasty) 26/07/08
The policies I wrote about were socialist and designed to create a better society. You seem more likely to take us backwards than me with your support for privilege. The main party which would not want to speak about class politics are of course the SNP. That’s because they are not political in the true sense, they are a single issue party, That’s why they thought nothing of bringing down a Labour Govt. by supporting the Tories and it’s why they didn’t think twice in Renfrewshire about forming a co-alition with the Tories, Look it up.
(Anonymous) 26/07/08
The Tory shadow cabinet represent wealth and privilege, if you can’t see that there is not much point in the argument.
“You never opened your gob when you pushed and supported New Labour and were party to its activities for 11 years” This means one of two things, either you do not know me and have not read my blog or, you are a liar.
The labour Party is a force for good in our society and represents the only hope of proper progress toward a fair system, that’s why I have never resigned on a single issue. There is of course the money, did you know that I was writing this from the Bahamas ?
(Tomrat) 26/07/08
I don’t understand this comment.
(Anonymous) 09:17
This is a rather long list of definite maybe’s some of which I agree with and some not but too long to engage in, I think there is more which unites us though.
I Personally don’t think we can do this by dumping the present leader.
(Paisley Buddie) 12:40
I can’t do anything other than post this comment, it shows people what some of the idiots who write to me are like.
(Bob Flowers) 14:56
There are two things worth commenting on among this lengthy and turgid tirade.
“it’s over” same as Govan, Govan again, Motherwell, Hamilton etc.
“The by-election was no close run thing” do you think me daft enough to try to undermine the By Election shock ?
I merely point out that the media hyperbole and the SNP triumphalism ignores the fact that they now hold this seat by a couple of hundred votes, and like many other occasions we can take it back.
(Anonymous) 18:03
I’m not sure what you mean by this. I’ll assume that people who share my opinions are humanist and socialist but, you think these ideas are crazy.
Is that an argument ?
Terry
Neither the SNP, the Tories or anyone else defeated Labour.
Thanks to spin, incompetence and arrogance, the Labour Party defeated itself.
You're right - there is a need to get back to basics, but a greater need for good, honest people to lead the party
Terry
where can I look up and see where Renfrewshire SNP is in coalition with the Tories?
Is this in the Terry big book of self delusion and fantasy.
As far as I am aware the SNP are in coalition with the lib dems. I also heard that when the Labour group tried to court them for a coalition, they recoiled in horror at the thought of teaming up with the cro-magnon branch of New Labour.
Smart people.
By the end of that post I was on my feet applauding. Thank God someone in the Labour party has finally made a passionate and coherent case for what they believe in.
I've voted SNP in the last few elections as a bit of a means to an end. In other circumstances I'd be a Labour voter not quite for better or worse but pretty loyal.
I do believe in Scottish Independence -my hero is John Maclean what can I say?
That said it's pretty low on my list of priorities and isn't foremost in my mind when I vote.
My honest feelings when I've voted in the last few elections were that I could not endorse current Labour policy Iraq/PFI/10p tax abolition and many more. I respect you for staying and fighting within the party but from the point of view of a voter the only real way I have to send a message is via the ballot box.
However my vote rather than being a ringing endorsement of SNP policy was at least voting for one thing I believe in -independence. As no-one else was offering much else I wanted I had nowhere else to go and decided that unless real Labour made itself apparent again then the SNP would get my vote until independence when they'll be swiftly dumped.
I don't mean to bore you with my personal views but hope that they might offer you an insight as to why some Scottish voters have deserted the Labour party.
"The Tory shadow cabinet represent wealth and privilege, "
Councillor, I suggest you look up the background of the current cabinet. Alan Johnson apart, they have all benefitted from priveleged upbringing, priveleged school education and university. There are more "toffs" on the Labour benches than across the House.
The whole Eton toff thing just does not resonate with people anymore - cf Crewe and Nantwich.
Remind you of anyone Terry?
"Curran was damned by her own self-delusion. She might sound like an east end “windy-hinger” calling the weans in for their tea. But geographically and politically, Curran was miles away. She was in the middle-class surburb of Newlands to be exact. That’s no sin. But dishonesty plays badly at the polls.
Not that Curran is alone. Many Labour politicians in Scotland suffer from a ‘working class hero’ complex that clouds their sense of themselves and their party. They no longer know what they stand for, so take refuge in inappropriate stereotypes from the glory days of socialism" Joan Mcalpine Sunday Times
(Macnasty) 27/07/08
If Gordon Brown doesn’t qualify as a good honest person then we really are in trouble.
(Anonymous) 27/07/08
Try contacting the SNP group at Renfrewshire Council and ask them if they have ever been in a co-alition with the Tories. Don’t take my word, get it from the horses mouth.
I look forward to your retraction.
(Ann) 27/07/08
Thank you for writing. I’m a member of the Labour Party because two years ago I was chatting to Tony Benn (name dropper) and he made the point to me that at that time there were 23 left of centre parties in Britain and outwith Labour a saved deposit for any of them is a rarity, Labour is the only party with a remote chance of delivering socialism, the rest are playing at it.
If all of the members and supporters of these other parties were to join Labour we would be unstoppable, there is no alternative.
(Bob Flowers) 11:57
The Tory shadow cabinet does indeed represent wealth and privilege, I’m not aware of members of the Labour Cabinet sharing similar backgrounds, most will have gone to University, some to Oxbridge but they are vastly different from Cameron and his colleagues.
(Anonymous) 15:08
Curran is an East Ender, she came from there, her family roots are there, she worked there, she slipped up and said all her life, so what ? calling that an attempt to be dishonest is pathetic.
You continue to get your political philosophy from the ‘Sunday Times’ and I’ll stick with mine.
Kelly @ 4.55 to Bob Flowers
'I'm not aware of Labour Ministers sharing similar(privileged)backgrounds
Try Anthony Lynton Blair and Harriet Harman for starters.
Wake up Terry, the class war went out when the Attlee Government came in.
And no, Brown does not qualify as a good, honest, decent person.
He is an equivocating incompetent coward who has surrounded himself with a battalion of 'Yes' men.
Your current Leader is a man who makes Micheal Foot look a splendid choice.
(Macnasty) 17:53
The class war did not go out with Atlee it is still with us, the shadow cabinet shows that. Your attack on Brown is a poisonous rant with no substance, just bile.
The tendancy of the left to split off into smaller and smaller partioes has been a long term and bloody frustrating problem for as long as the left has existed. As I say I respect you and people like Tony Benn for staying in the party and fighting your corner. I think when Labour eventually lose power it will be people like yourselves who will rebuild the party and attract back disillusioned members and voters. I don't see some of the more obvious careerists being much help there.
Alright Bonny Lad, let's get back to your rant about 'Privileged' members of the Shadow Cabinet.
I reminded you that Blair and Harman were equally privileged, but you forgot to comment on that particular point.
Are they to be added to the list, come the Revolution?
(Macnasty) 29/07/08
You really need to do a bit more work on this, you need to look in more depth at the backgrounds of the Tory shadow cabinet, comparing them to labour is just stupid.
(Ann) 28/07/08
I have no intention of losing power but, it would be great if people joined the party and helped to bring about change, there is no alternative to Labour if you believe in socialism.
Kelly @ 10.19
'Comparing them (the Labour Cabinet) to the Tory front bench is stupid.'
Terry that is so true. I couldn't have put it better myself.I wish I had your gift with words.
I'd probably have put a bit in about the Tory Front Bencher who stood for re-election on a matter of principle as against a complete Labour Cabinet with not a principle between them, but that's a minor quibble. In general, well said.
(Macnasty) 30/07/08
“Tory Front Bencher who stood for re-election on a matter of principle” There’s one born every minute isn’t there.
'One born every minute.'
What's your take on why Davis forced a by-election, then?
(Macnasty) 31/07/08
Vanity revenge and ambition. You haven’t got a clue have you ?
Terry, you said (and I'm still tittering with incredulity)
"there is no alternative to Labour if you believe in socialism."
Dear God man! The ultimate expression of a political party is it's policies. Where oh where, you deluded fool, does Labour Party policy indicate it is (or has been for many years) anything other than a champion of capitalism?
What really seems to be wrong here Terry is that the Labour party you adore is no longer the same as the one you joined.
You refuse to see the wood for the trees, pretending to yourself that it is the same one, but it's worse than you dare imagine.
The ruling elite in your party don't care about social justice as much as soundbites. They are using the name of the Labour party, and the guaranteed votes it does have, to cling onto power at any cost and enact whatever policies they want.
Are you pro-war? It is your party that has sent British troops into Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and more. Is that your party?
Abolition of the 10% tax rate (which Brown himself created) causing millions of low paid workers to lose out. Is that your party?
And we could go on and on.
The Labour party is now nothing more than an umbrella organisation that covers unreconstructed socialists like yourself, champagne socialists like Miliband and power seekers like Brown.
Now, ask yourself Terry, how many socialists like yourself are ever selected as MP's these days and how many Miliband clones?
Quite often when I end up on this blog I get the distinct impression that your anger is more with what is happening / has happened to the party you love so much and you are trying to convince yourself otherwise. This post really does confirm it, for you wear it on your sleeve in paragraph 4.
It's quite sad to watch really.
“the Labour party is no longer the same as the one you joined” after 45 Yrs. I would hope not, “the only constant is change” (Leon Trotsky)
“Are you pro-war” ? - Sometimes.
“how many socialists like yourself are ever selected as MP's” Plenty, the machinery for selecting candidates is still in place, the members pick the candidate, you are perfectly entitled to say who is and who isn’t a socialist but it doesn’t mean you are right.
I’m satisfied that the Labour Party is the only possibility for socialist change in Britain, I believed that when I joined and still do now, that ! hasn’t changed.
You're being disingenuous Terry, you know fine well I am not meaning that the party is still functioning as if it was 1922 but rather that the founding beliefs of the Labour party are no longer used as guides to formulating policy.
So the great internationalist and peace loving socialist that you are is pro-war? What are your guiding principles in deciding if a military intervention is either useful or just?
When I see any sitting Labour MP or MSP either in person or in the media I can't see much evidence of a true socialist. Much as it pains me to say it, Tommy Sheridan and his clan behaved much more like socialists than Labour members whenever I have had any dealings with them. I used to have a lot of respect for that because, whether I agreed with them or not, they seemed to believe in something other than the acquisition of power.
I could see the way the Labour Party was going when I had a brief flirtation with them in the 80's. Young Socialist meetings where they were all turning up like mini-Derek Hatton's. Talking the talk but full of that equivalent of the modern mobile the filofax, of the laptop in their briefcases and dressing for success in double breasted suits. These are the people who inherited the Labour Party and in someone like Miliband, Douglas Alexander or David Cairns (my own MP) you can see they've changed not one iota.
The worst aspect of this? The next generation to be the top of the heap in the Labour party are made up of these people, and when they spend 2010 onwards in opposition the public perception of the Labour party will get worse and worse. They'll be more unelectable than the party was in the 80's. People respond to truth much more than to people who will tell you what you want to hear.
(Shug Niggurath) 06/08/08
“So the great internationalist and peace loving socialist that you are is pro-war”
Didn’t you just describe me as being disingenuous, this kind of thing makes it very difficult to believe anything you say.
The rest of your post is regurgitated subjective bias, not worth dealing with.
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