the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

Benn is chair of the Brexit select committee and has done things like pressuring the government to release the impact assessments, he has been good in this role imo.

What did he do, threaten to bomb them?

Shouldn't be but really shocked to go to BBC News this morning and it's just a big pic of Corbyn and that this story is mostly all about him.

Meanwhile the Government does what he said they should do anyway...

when you think that he has no power or real role in this nonsense and has said no more than "kneejerkily following the dictats of the intelligence services is not a good look" it's pretty mindblowingly transparent

Corbyn made the story all about him, not anyone else.

how did he do that Fred, failure to shout "nuke Russia" quickly enough?

?

https://d2ffutrenqvap3.cloudfront.net/items/04361O10070j2D1o3I32/bbc_homepage.PNG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEHtbrQAxHc

oh it was failure to shout "Nuke Russia", i thought you were kidding

Fred can you fuck off back to America?

Lol the media has been inane about Corbyn ever since he entered the first leadership race. But why let lack of knowledge or context stop you offering your opinions here too?

so Freddy is with the D:Reamers on this?

If anybody it has been May that has been milking the situation for her own ends, and playing to the gallery rather than Corbyn.

Looked on my phone a couple of hours ago and Corbyn was the main pic - maybe it hadn't refreshed since last night tho.

Just to be on the safe side I do think the Russian Embassy should have their Twitter confiscated and be given their own show on LBC.

it changed around 10am

He screwed up the response. Went too much on the attack against government cuts, his spokesman insinuated that the government might be lying. And he is vulnerable on this subject, because his own opinions are nonsense: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/15/salisbury-attack-conflict-britain-cold-war (note there's nothing about government cuts in there, he knows that was a screwup)

His point is that the UK should avoid a 'drift to conflict', but most people would probably say when a group is spreading nerve gas in your cities, you're already in conflict. And while on the one hand he wants to avoid conflict, on the other hand he supports Magnitsky-like sanctions and financial reform, which of course would intensify the conflict. It's stupid and nonsensical. I'm sorry, but it's stupid on the face of it. No need for 'context' (and we get news stories about Britain in Denmark, I'm aware of the context)

so what's your suggested response? britain pulls up its britches and sends the tanks into moscow?

It was a vmic response and it changes nobody's opinions on him or the situation. Oh man how will he ever recover...

How about Magnitsky-like sanctions and financial reform, perhaps suspending RT license. Basically what he says he would, without posturing about how stupid the government and the intelligence service is, and how peace loving we all are compared to them.

https://i1.wp.com/gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/leaving-now-grandpa-simpsons.gif?ssl=1

without posturing about how stupid the government and the intelligence service is, and how peace loving we all are compared to them.

So none of that is true then?

how dare the leader of the opposition attack the government and our noble intelligence service. they are fucking hawks, when it suits.

The problem is exactly that the whole thing now is about whether or not anyones opinions of the opposition leader will change. That is not what the discussion should be about when a country is hit by a nerve gas attack. And yeah, that might be easier for me to say as a foreigner, but it's kinda mind-blowing watching this discussion from afar after an attack like this. I'm trying to imagine the same thing happening in Denmark, and Mette Frederiksen would be absolutely destroyed if she tried to do something like this.

I almost hope she will be destroyed by something like this someday. She's horrible, and I would love to have an opposition leader like Corbyn. I'm a massive fan, he is without a doubt the best Social Democratic politician in the world right now, and a massive inspiration everywhere. But it really underscores to me how badly the left needs a new foreign policy, because what he says is nonsensical.

if you want to see posturing, take a look at gavin williamson's risible performance yesterday.

You prefer the just keep your mouth shut we're at war approach. Except it's nothing to do with you in the first place.

clearly nothing about Corbyn's position is intended to show up the hypocrisy of a government that likes to drum up a bit of nationalist fervour and xenophobia but not at the expense of actually interfering with the money and business links enjoyed by its chums and supporters

and the "whole thing" is only about this to the extent that our news media chooses to make it so, which maybe tells you a little about where their priorities - and by extension, the Tory government's priorities - actually lie

It isn't Corbyn who is doing fistbumps for the cameras in a let's go do Argies fashion!

Every time May has a bid dip in the polls, she is just dying to call an emergency Cobra meeting - it's the only time she actually seems to have any authority.

How about Magnitsky-like sanctions and financial reform, perhaps suspending RT license. Basically what he says he would, without posturing about how stupid the government and the intelligence service is, and how peace loving we all are compared to them.

so your problem is not with what he's saying but how he's choosing to say it? wtf is going on itt

My problem is that the bullshit posturing half of what he is saying contradicts and undermines the reasonable half. How on earth is this so hard to understand?

Obviously nothing much going on news-wise in America. Or Denmark.

his job isn't to support foreign policy decisions of questionable motivation, his job is to call this government to account, how is that so hard to understand?

How on earth is this so hard to understand?

i'd venture that if a bunch of us itt aren't grasping what you're attempting to say then it's possible the problem doesn't lie with us

Hitting the tories on their sabre rattling is totally fair game - it's an embarassing, transparent ploy to gain some popularity with zero possibilities of actual follow-up. Corbyn has been very good at taking an explicit anti-Putin stance (more than I expected him to, actually) while still showing the conservatives up for this.

"his job isn't to support foreign policy decisions of questionable motivation"

with the likes of Chuka, Creasy and chums constantly voting with them they don't need any more help.

I has typed out a thing about the long history of security services colluding in and lying about various human rights abuses and atrocities - all well documented - but what’s the point? But yeah, totally operating in good faith and with context.

Daniel Rf otm

his job isn't to support foreign policy decisions of questionable motivation, his job is to call this government to account, how is that so hard to understand?

― as the crows around me grows (Noodle Vague), 16. marts 2018 13:11 (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Does anyone else actually believe this, because this is insane

I do believe that is a reasonable description of the minimum one would expect from the Leader Of The Opposition.

literally his job

fred the "conflict" corbyn is warning against drifting into isn't poison in a park - which you're right, has happened already - it's region-destabilizing interventions like iraq, afghanistan and libya.

Fred, what do you understand Corbyns role to be? To rubberstamp everything the government proposes?

the Defence Secretary is hardmanning it up in public, like a drunk guy outside the pub stripped to the waist screaming "come on then!" at Putin, which makes Corbyn's role as the guy trying to put an arm aroud Williamson and say "leave it, he's not worth it" a very important one

Don't they have His or Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition in Denmark?

Obviously the adversarial nature of British politics is stupid in many ways but can be useful too, on occasion.

adversarial politics is stupid but given that at least one side represents a bigger threat to the health and security of our own citizens than any amount of foreign nerve agents it's fairly understandable

LMAO is this real? Like many I do not watch Newsnight very often.

The backdrop to the BBC’s #Newsnight programme last night : it doesn’t take much to see this as right wing tabloid style smearing of the Leader of the Opposition - using image association. pic.twitter.com/1Xr5iacXFi

— Labour Left (@LabourLeft) March 16, 2018

i was literally just coming to post that, what the actual fuck

presumably in the interests of balance they later had a background of theresa may's head photoshopped onto slim pickens' body riding the nuke at the end of dr strangelove