Psychoactive Substances: Rolling UK Politics in The Neo-Con Era

For a hanged man Corbyn has kept pushing the lines he was elected for. Don't see him as 'learning on the job'.

Was thinking there hasn't been a lot on JC's comments - I suppose because the events in Paris are pushing almost everything else to the background.

It's because most people outside Westminster, the Labour Party and the media don't actually care either way about them.

Well I am comparing this to the stuff on Trident/would you push the button. Agree most don't care but iirc it would be harder to avoid if you watch the news in passing.

UK media working hard to bring the subject round from something they don't actually care about- dead French people- to something they very much do- pouring shit over Corbyn.

I certainly know that my first reaction upon hearing news of the atrocity was "hmmm, I wonder what Jeremy Corbyn thinks of this?"

Well, John Rentoul certainly wasn't the only one.

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2015/11/20/zac-goldsmith-would-scrap-all-london-s-bus-lanes

All bus lanes would be scrapped in London under plans being considered by the Conservative London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith.

Goldsmith told LBC's Nick Ferrari, that the rise of electric cars means that there will soon be "no point" in having bus lanes.

Only buses, cyclists and black cabs are allowed to use the lanes currently.

However, he said he would first allow electric cars to use the lanes as a perk, before scrapping them altogether.

is this total bollocks? or could electric cars become incredible cheap? i'm finding it hard to see how many more vehicles on the road is a functional solution to anything.

*incredibly cheap

"no point" in having bus laneses.

It's not like a Tory mayoral candidate to have zero understanding of normal people's lives...

Why does he think bus lanes exist, exactly? Some vague notion of pollution-busting?

I think that if I am right and I am absolutely convinced I am

I have been OTM in this manifesto

deregulate the underground and let people drive their own tube carriages to work

Who was it who said they travel on the tube "all the time", then proposed that they go sit in the buffet car/bar?

yeah it's strange - his theory seems to be nobody would get the bus anymore because... electric cars would make them to feel better about polluting. as if people choose the bus for environmental reasons.

deregulate the underground and let people drive their own tube carriages to work

move the bus lanes into the tube. more room for cars above ground.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/44/Marge_vs._the_Monorail_%28promo_card%29.png/235px-Marge_vs._the_Monorail_%28promo_card%29.png

Absolutely astonishing.

Thank you, Tory toff mayoral candidate for cheering me up this morning

He should be mocked for this to the end of his days obv

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/20/worst-uk-deficit-figures-six-years-george-osborne

Thank you, Tory toff mayoral candidate for cheering me up this morning
He should be mocked for this to the end of his days obv

Instead he'll be elected Mayor of London.

Note from building's management today.

Counter Terrorism Awareness Week

Next Monday, 23rd November, marks the start of Counter Terrorism Awareness Week. This is an annual event that takes place across London and is not linked to recent events in Paris.

With regard to the Estate, the Police will be deploying additional resources throughout the week. These include Armed Vehicle Check Points on approach roads, increased aerial observation and high visibility patrols using foot and horse mounted officers.

The intent, here and across the Capital, is to provide reassurance and will enhance the existing security regime on the Estate.

Please be assured that these operations are not in response to recent events.

Well, thanks. That's good to know. It's certainly raised my awareness of counter-terrorism.

nothing sweeter than gliding along in the bus lane past a road full of stationary cars

Twitter is going nuts bc McDonnell apparently quoted from Mao's red book and then threw it across the table at Osborne?

If true I think this is definitely in the 'he could make things easier for himself' category.

LOL:

McDonnell brandishes a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book, and he quotes from it: “We must learn to do economic work from all, no matter who they are.” He thought this advice would come in handy for Osborne, McDonnell says.

My man

Seriously McDonnell should've made way more out of the Tax Credits u-turn than he appears to have. otoh he has no advance copy of this..

he promised not to do that on the Marr show.

He's taking the piss obviously, but a) perhaps now is not really the time, and b) either he really hadn't thought about how it might be used against him, or he went ahead and did it anyway. You have to wonder whether he bothers to run any of this stuff past Corbyn first.

It's probably slightly better than taking the leader of the Chinese Communist Party for a pint though.

Well, it's one way of moving the news cycle on from labour divisions over Syria.

https://youtu.be/Fm3SNk3ffoA

I think I remember (but may be mistaken) when the Guardian wasn't such a completely predictable mark.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/25/austerity-tory-milibandism-labour-capitalism

Nothing wrong with being a predictable mark!

I knew I was going to say that.

What the fuck was he thinking?

— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr)
November 25, 2015

Chris Leslie, Yvette Cooper scouring CSR small print on backbenches. Reminder that McDonnell never done rapid budget reaction. Others have

Chris + Yvette 4 Lab front bench 4 evah and evah.

And here is a Guardian video with Osborne’s best jokes.

Thanks but I'll pass.

Scouring the small print is just basic competence though, surely McDonnell thought to have someone do it?

Yeah- Chris Leslie and Yvette Cooper.

Sounds like a proper 'division of labour', eh readers? Ho ho ho

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/25/john-mcdonnell-mao-zedong-little-red-book-george-osborne

Former shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said he was not sure why McDonnell had referred to Mao as a joke.

“The last politicians that I quoted, who have inspired me, are Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Keir Hardie – they’re the ones I tend to quote. But that’s my choice. I haven’t quoted a communist before and I have no intention of doing so in the future,” he said.

Chuka in being as dull as dust non-shockah.

McDonnell pulled out a copy of the book to make a point about George Osborne’s relationship with the Chinese

I wouldn't have done it myself, mind you.

(xxp) Keir Hardie is an inspirational figure for Chuka Umuna? Aye, right.

It's pretty obvious by this point that Chuka is basically a moron who fancies himself as an arch-Machiavel.

A lot of usually jaunty Twitter Marxists getting angry about how everyone is focusing on this and not any of the issues of substance, which is true, but if you're a sr Labour member maybe think about that before you indulge in the sort of deliberately scene-stealing nobbish debating society Punch-and-Judy performance that Corbyn's front bench is supposed to be against.

Absolutely. If John McDonnell had concentrated on the substance, so would everyone else.

Tom Watson didn't look too amused either. Maybe the tax-credit u-turn took wrong footed him and it was his plan b?

There seem to be loads of rubbish popping up on the newsfeeds predictably quoting Mao's death tolls/ruinous policies.

Good job the Communist Party is not in charge of China anymore then.

No one in the media is going to give them a fair hearing anyway, and fuck the gamification of politics, but "hey, we've got nothing to lose so might as well take a shit on the table to stir things up" isn't a particularly sustainable way to win an argument either.

Much as I hate shouting "u-turn!" when said u-turn is patently the correct course of action, the tax credit change was a genuine victory for Corbyn and they should have just said so, again and again and again.

(Even if everyone else is claiming credit for it as well)

The Guardian was giving it a big-up to Frank Field for the u-turn on tax credits. But yes its actually the energies marshalled by Corbyn and front-bench that have had a big role to play.

Also the backtrack on police cuts - while that was more due to the Paris attacks - could also have been seen as credit for Labour.

Maybe the tax-credit u-turn took wrong footed him and it was his plan b?

It was very easy to portray this as a victory for the Labour front-bench (one of a few but this is from the Budget side of things) and where they are strongest: domestic issues and dealing with questions around austerity.

Once the noise dies down I like to think McDonnell will learn from the experience and have better responses to come, even though the autumn statement is such a shambles of an occasion (austerity goes on boo-fucking-hoo isn't Osborne such a genius to do a bit less of it) I am not too bothered either way.