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

It's not 1982.

*checks calendar*

he's right, folks

Labour's leadership is the sweetest agony atm

Foolishly glanced at part of the editorial from the odious CIty AM this morning and they were howling in horror at Labour's latest proposals against poor defenceless bankers and bad businesses as usual.

lol love city am

What's the deal with the centre left press fawning over McDonnell all of a sudden? It's been going on for a few weeks now and seems to have come out of nowhere.

isn't there a theory he's plotting to overthrow corbs?

I don't know if the stress of intriguing against a friend and taking on the leadership at the time when that position will be taking some serious flak would be great for someone who had a heart attack only 3 years ago.

they’ve been taken in by his emollient bank manager routine

Yet confusingly he's the one consistently saying remain isn't an option LIFESOCONFUSING.GIF

thread on the labour leave fringe meeting:

Austin Mitchell says our “poor prime minister” was “viciously attacked” by the EU last week. #Lab2018 pic.twitter.com/amtIprcfvX

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 24, 2018

can't stand that old cunt!

people who wish were dead but aren't.

Kate Hoey says the reason so many young people support staying in the EU is because they have been indoctrinated by Remain-supporting university lecturers. #lab2018

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 24, 2018

people who wish were look dead but aren't.

Every time Norman Tebbit shows up I find myself torn between a jaded "of course he's talking shit, he's Norman Tebbit" and an indignant "you've got a nerve, showing up here alive and having opinions"

— Buckfast at Tiffany's (@DismalChips) September 24, 2018

He's one of those "I still believe all of those things that have been proven to be untrue"

typical bloody infowars nutter!

I haven't read what was in the Torygraph yesterday, but if Kershaw was peddling that same Nazis=left-wing claptrap as Tebbitt then he might find some of his peers are laughing at him and will never take him seriously again.

This is going to be massively all over the media. Marr, Peston, Newsnight, Channel 4, sky news, Guardian, Times, Telegraph. They’ll all be on to this. Deffo. https://t.co/YKbrHoAL33

— Michael Rosen (@MichaelRosenYes) September 24, 2018

high five, fellow antisemitic neo-fascists!

Do you think that Labour’s proposed share plan for workers is a good idea?
All Brits: 54% good, 17% bad
Labour voters: 70% good, 6% bad
Conservative voters: 39% good, 34% bad https://t.co/RsfPQAPWR3 pic.twitter.com/9bWQr4Dibt

— YouGov (@YouGov) September 24, 2018

the modesty of the proposal in the big scheme of things kinda shows up just how off-kilter our society is, can well believe a majority don't see this as rampaging National Socialism

FWIW I'm not sure that a separate fund with a capped dividend of £500 is the best way to go about this - obviously £500 is a fuck of a lot of money to a lot of people and very welcome, but it doesn't keep them (literally) invested in the performance of their company in the same way that a straightforward share issue or other mutual structure would.

lol at 39% of conservative voters being cryptosocialists, good job capitalism

not even sure if the goal is to keep workers invested in performance so much as a v tentative first step in democratizing the economy

talking speculatively here, wouldn't it be problematic for future evil Tory governments to reverse something like this, as opposed to the way the New Labour tax-credits have been cut to ribbons in the last 8 years.

not that £500 would replace some of the working benefits that have been slashed.

I haven't read what was in the Torygraph yesterday, but if Kershaw was peddling that same Nazis=left-wing claptrap as Tebbitt then he might find some of his peers are laughing at him and will never take him seriously again.

I think the article was a refutation of Kershaw, et al in the New Statesman?

wouldn't it be problematic for future evil Tory governments to reverse something

yes but it hasn't stopped them before iirc

xp

ah, that explains it!

I think the tory party would struggle to take ppl's shares away

I have worked for places where people got encouraged to buy company shares - not loads (you couldn't call it emergency fund-raising, exactly), about £200 worth. The idea, as you say, to get people interested in the success of the company in a small way, and get people interested in investing in shares in a more general way. We had to sign pre-sale notifications, though, because if we left the company we weren't allowed to keep them. I eventually moved on, got a pay-back (about £230 or so, not bad for 1 year later), and bought a leather jacket yeah.

About six months later, the firm went broke, and the remaining worker shareholders got nowt.

Anyway, I wouldn't say it was something yr natural Tories would be adverse to, put it that way.

xp
they could get some tips off some of their oligarch pals on how to shake down workers for their shares! (the Russian word for privatisation apparently translates as "grabification" in English). But I'd imagine the nationalisation of utilities and transport would be a real pisser to reverse, especially if they continued to be popular policies - but that's supposing that a complete pig's ear isn't made of the job, with all the media reportage saying "I told you so!".

Starmer has not ruled out Remain being on a ballot.

Idk how this would work if the vote split was:

45% remain
33% leave under May’s preferred terms
32% leave under other terms tbc

But I suspect it will never actually come to that. It might help May get her troops in line to avoid a snap election though.

Looks like Dennis Skinner really enjoyed Keir Starmer's speech pic.twitter.com/ltoPXTnyYt

— Alain Tolhurst (@Alain_Tolhurst) September 25, 2018

Starmer’s announcement wasn’t in the planned text, apparently.

If that's the case he may need to go..

If the whole point is that conference decides then it isn't factually incorrect though.

It's also quite difficult to sack someone on the basis of something that's just been rapturously recieved at your own conference, especially so soon before Brexit.

If that's not on the agreed text and he is going off on his own with it...and as Sahrivari explains it this sounds stupid. He might not be sacked tomorrow but at some point.

isn't a 2nd ref completely futile when relying on the arithmetic of hypothetical tory rebels that will put party before principles/or the economy/anything every time.

Unless there's an election yes.

The Tories can get to say Labour are betraying the people next week.

they might be able to put their factional war on hold for a few days- but I doubt it, and it will take some work to polish that chequers deal turd into something shiny and impressive!

They're going to do that even if Labour vote against the final Brexit deal, as has pretty much already been pledged. Problem is this 'will of the people' stuff falls down pretty quickly when you're proposing to... ask the people.

The firestorm from the Tory press is going to be immense but if you're going to let them dictate policy you might as well have Blair back.

I'm trying to work out what is positive about this Starmer move when it isn't going to improve the likelihood of a snap election and a 2nd ref isn't happening any time soon??

it sent a thrill down the leg of every centre-left journalist in the country

productivity in centre-left publications already up 25%!

gotta get some of that precious #FBPE constituency back from the Lib Dems