Quote Originally Posted by the other bob wilson View Post
I thought the same thing Jon, right down to me knowing nothing about point five.

A constant bugbear of mine is that so many in the Labour party see the other faction in the party as a bigger rival than the party that has kept them out of Government for more than a decade - I’d say that you’d get left wing posters on here joining in with any thread started by a Conservative supporter who were more critical of the Labour Party than the Tory ones!

For myself, you only have to read my reaction to the Batley and Spen result to see I can hardly claim to a blind loyalist either!
I agree with you to an extent about internal Labour feuding, but on a football messageboard I'm not going to hold back when it comes to what I see as internal sabotage and subversion of what a socialist party in the UK should stand for. For most of my life the Labour Party has been centrist, social democratic, controlled by the right, and a friend of interests and powers that exploit and oppress - with Blair and Bush's warmongering two decades ago the recent lowlight.

At the same time the Labour Party is organically linked to the trades union movement, has some brilliant committed people amongst its membership, and even in the worst times is a much better option for ordinary people than the main alternative. Even Gordon Brown has a reasonable track record on redistribution and investment in people (Surestart and the other programmes of the 'landslide' terms 1997-2005) - although he did a lot of it under the radar so as not to upset Rupert Murdoch!

If I tear up my membership card I will still vote Labour and do some legwork in elections for our (very good) local MP. I despise Starmer for reneging on his election promises, offering pathetic opposition to the Tories, and for using his position and the party apparatus to purge socialists and anti-racists from membership - but the party and the movement is bigger than the leader, the PLP and the lobbyists and funders who are directing policy.

I will also go 'Sludge On Steroids' when it comes to the clown and his party who currently (mis)govern at Westminster. I'm sure Vindec will be very happy with my balanced approach to political threads on here.