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

Hitler was fine when he only commanded the fanatical loyalty of thousands of paramilitary boot boys who would routinely commit anti-semitic hate crimes. Who could guess he would turn out to be a bad guy when given command of the carcereal and police resources of the state.

I hesitate to bring this up, in case I'm accused of being an anti-Zionist, but wasn't it last year that Netanyahu was claiming Hitler didn't want to kill the Jews either until the Mufti of Jerusalem popped the idea into his innocent little head?

My guess is that Corbyn's team have been desperate for a reason to off Ken for some time.

Also righteous long Suzy post upthread.

My guess is that Corbyn's team have been desperate for a reason to off Ken for some time.

the independent published an article a couple of weeks ago claiming that Corbyn's people had been calling up bbc current affairs shows begging them not to book Livingstone as a guest due to his ability to cause a row every time he opens his mouth

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyns-office-blocks-ken-livngstone-from-appearing-on-tv-a6978156.html

Corbyn basically bought Ken back into active roles tho'. Almost his worst move.

The whole thing is just so...from the roll-call of the usual right-wing Labour (really I'm so tired of these pricks) tweeting for Ken to go leading to the idiotic row with John Mann. Panto.

It's all a pretty good way of engaging with the junior doctor's strike, so fair fucks.

Of not engaging with *

You know a couple of years ago I would probably have defended Shah and Livingstone without thinking about it which is some small progress I suppose.

I don't understand why Labour don't distinguish between the Israeli left and the Israeli right.

Thanks to Mordy I can now see why people hotmouthing about 'Zionism' or 'Israel' is more of a problem than it might appear (to gentiles). Zionism being an ideology thought up by people at risk of being wiped out, it isn't the same as, say, what the Dutch thought about South Africa even if it shares some emotive threads, but people seem to have ended up talking about 'Zionism' in the same way you might talk about 'racism', as an unacceptable aberration.

Likewise blaming 'Zionism' for crimes by the IDF against Palestinians seems like a lazy move - as in, what actually motivates these conflicts, what's going through the heads of politicians and soldiers on the ground might not be Zionism as such?

And overall talking about 'Israel' doing (something bad) blanks out all the many Israelis who are opposed to that (something), presents 'Israel' as a homogenous block of people who all believe fervently that civilian tower blocks are legitimate targets etc etc. Hence why I say I wonder why UK Labour rhetoric on the issue doesn't distinguish between the Israeli Likud and Labour parties.

when someone like Boris Johnson wasn't suspended by the Tories for calling black people 'pickaninnies'

And things like this - the fact that at least half the people joining in the attempt to bring down Corbyn as an anti-semite are not Jewish and do not care about anti-semitism - feed into the Livingstone Formula very nicely

That's the same as every state though - every time that we say "India seeks Briton's extradition in AgustaWestland bribe case", it's understood that there'll be people in India who oppose this, and people in India who don't care.

But the representative government of the state is acting as the state - that's literally their job.

So much around historical debates about the transportation of a people. That this happened in the week the Tories barred children refugees from entering the country is just..

Perhaps many people have a natural expectation of labour taking racism more seriously than the tories, hence it's unsurprising that Boris has got away with his remark.

I think that my wanting my daughter to move out is significantly different from her desire to have her own place. Certainly this stuff annoyed me back in the day - you couldn't campaign about a library closure without anti-Israel flags, and you couldn't get agreement on removing that stuff. And it wasn't from anti-war Muslims; it was just hard-left white scots like myself. I was even asked to leave a group for being 'pro-Israel' because I took a more nuanced view. The aggravating thing is that it is both a serious problem on the left (along with a developing islamophobia) and it's being seized by the right for political ends. It's still nothing like the anti-semitism of the right, though I'll leave it to Jewish people to say whether it's a difference of magnitude or type.

https://mobile.twitter.com/alicharlo/status/726677447714955264

"On Thursday, are we really going to hand the world's greatest city to a Labour Party that thinks terrorists is its friends", Zac Goldsmith asks ungrammatically in the Mail, complete with pictures of the 7/7 attacks. If he loses, I hope he's done permanently in politics after this. I expected the campaign to be disgraceful but he has sunk even lower than anticipated.

looooool

tories are such scum. surely londoners won't swallow this crap.

London = Greatest City on Earth. Londoners = Greatest Earthlings.

Terrified he will win. Fuck you Ken Livingstone (who I used to respect and admire) for shitting the bed so badly that this is even a race now.

http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/london-mayoral-election-2016/next-mayor

wouldn't worry.

Yes, good work Ken, you cunt.

If Khan loses and the expected wipeout takes place in Scotland then I think that'll be it for Corbyn. I don't believe he's remotely antisemitic but he has certainly created an environment where people like Ken feel they can shoot their mouths off with impunity. And if Khan loses it WILL be Ken's fault.

The possibility of voters just taking one look at the whole toxic mess and deciding just to not bother voting is reasonably high.

The ageing stoner dude looks nice enough.

Do you think Livingstone would be any more disciplined at this stage of his career under any other leader?

those odds say no fucking way he loses

Did Diane Abbott ever apologize or backpedal for saying Mao did more good than harm?

I'd like to think that stuff that Boris and other Tories said will be dredged back up and have more weight. I could see this sort of stuff becoming more of an arms race than it previously was.

Do you think Livingstone would be any more disciplined at this stage of his career under any other leader?

Of course not, but then he could just be dismissed by the leadership as a rent-a-gob media buffoon a la Galloway semi-detached semi-retired ex-MP with no power or influence in the Party, Corbyn gave him the opportunity to (once again) caper about in front of the nearest camera.

... capering about as an 'insider' with the ear of the leadership that is and not a washed up hasbeen.

I'd like to think that stuff that Boris and other Tories said will be dredged back up and have more weight. I could see this sort of stuff becoming more of an arms race than it previously was.

Tories don't care and perhaps tacitly approve of their candidates being racist assholes.

Anyway, the Labour Party (and any other party) would lose any such arms race against the Tories.

Goldsmith's campaign is dog-whistly to the point of explicit racism, it is how they roll.

Yeah it's the unconcealed 'well MY guys are in charge again and I'll say what I want' puffery that has led to this. Although obviously there are political reasons why people might choose to make the most out of his comments now.

He had actual responsibility under Blair and Brown and certainly seemed quieter, Evening Standard drunken meltdown nothwithstanding, certainly not this mad raving old uncle shouting at the TV figure.

If you go back to the first Boris campaign it was largely positive and optimistic, even if it was horseshit really it seems pretty obvious to me why 'NEW ROUTEMASTERS YAY!' might work better as a pitch to London voters than 'HE WILL BLOW YOU UP'.

Changing demographics have also meant that the outer boroughs, largely solid blue last time, have more lower-income residents this time around, which could well swing it, and the inner boroughs are stuffed with affluent middle-management liberals who would be rightly disgusted by the Goldsmith campaign.

This is amazing on so many levels and needs to be set down here for the record. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lolMtJfhUbc

wow.

Astonished, ASTONISHED by the polling day cock-up in Barnet, the Tory council which outsourced its services and based its business model upon Ryanair.

Outsourcing electoral services! Wonder if there will still be a Tory council in place there, this time tomorrow.

Rampant anti-Semitism in the Labour Party will take precedence in the minds of the voters of Barnet no doubt.

The joke legislation Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 to come into force on 26th May. Still don't really understand how poppers managed to get an exemption for apparently 'not acting on the brain'.

I'm glad that one guy who makes all the world's poppers got a reprieve

bloody hell, how many crosses did i just have to draw ..
2 on one card, 3 on another.
i nearly shouted out 'cat ran round it' afterwards.
given i have never heard of any of them i had to go tribal (postcode/party affiliation).

reports of low turnout giving me a squeaky bum moment atm

being honest, i was tempted to not bother,
but i decided that i needed to show an example to mk2, so i killed his ps3 groove and dragged him along.
kids gotta learn.

You'd have fun with an Irish election ballot then
http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2346967.1441884614!/image/image.jpg

ok, that's actually ridiculous.
like anyone give a top 10 rundown on a bunch of political hopeful unknowns.

Voted Sexton.

I think you misspelt 'glorious', mark.

Haha and fair fucks to whoever filled in that ballot, that's the ex-webmaster from my old (Dermot Desmond-ran) company for the Socialist Party at #1.

I think you misspelt 'glorious', mark.

fair play, i scrunched my eyebrows, and then i laughed.

https://londonelects.org.uk/im-voter/election-results/live-count-progress-2016?contest=23

In previous elections, the leader after 20% or so have been counted has been the eventual winner. Based on that, I'm calling in for Khan. And I for one welcome our new bus driver's son slightly resembling a tortoise that's lost its shell overlord.

LibDems in fourth place!