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

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.

I doubt most people will be crediting Tories, or, chortle, the Lib Dems for getting Osborne to u-turn. There will be plenty of time to blow this particular trumpet in the future.

The u-turn won't make any difference to those who have been moved onto Universal Credit and have already taken the cut. I don't know the numbers but there will be lot of people who won't getting any good news today.

Predictably Johnathon Jones is doing another of his shite Communionism wikis.

Jonathon Jones even

christ. tory press release on why mao is bad.

https://twitter.com/GerryHassan/status/669578525083607040

https://twitter.com/Birdyword/status/669510776902787072

Crocodile tears:

https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/669538952731164673

i literally can't think of anything more heartbreaking for the Labour party than a Labour shadow chancellor ironically quoting leftist rhetoric

McDonnell is a disaster.

I thought it was a bit of a misjudgement maybe, he didn't literally take a shit or it isn't like he pulled out Mein Kampf. My main criticism is he still could have addressed cuts in social care, "hidden cuts" that are integrated into Universal Credit, he could have made things more uncomfortable for Osbourne without reneging on his promise not to make political capital on a u-turn.

just a bizarre stunt. would be charitable to call it poorly conceived and executed. the extremely minimal chance that a left-wing labour party could compete electorally with the tories in england has p much already been utterly squandered. corbyn's people are incompetent, the blairite internal opposition truculent, and britain is teetering over the precipice of a period of indefinite tory rule.

not sure why i didn't realize that weird internal rhyme was going on in the last sentence

I wouldn't say we are "teetering over the precipice of a period of indefinite tory rule" - and whatever everyone is saying about how the cuts have been softened, it was the vote from the Lord's that rollled that back. A lot of that is due to Corbyn and Mcdonnell being there.

The polls (even the 'adjusted ones') haven't moved from the election. This is minor stuff. There are a lot more shocks to come to this country so no need to jump the gun on anything.

Tory rule since 1979 feels fairly indefinite already tbh

and yeah this kind of goof is irrelevant to the electorate

In any kind of autumn statement can anyone remember anything Ed Balls said about it? No small detail super-response would have killed off the chancellor, a mere few months into a new parliament.

Corbyn's guys are incompetent
the Blairite basterds truculent
and Britain is teetering
over the brink of in-
definite Tory government

Sorry, English is my second language.

ha!

orson_welles_applause.gif