Batley and Spen by-election

[the other bob wilson]

Galloway-Populist? Yeah, right! You may not like him, that's fair enough, but his political stance certainly isn't 'Populist' Tell me, what has he been wrong about concerning the middle east and his warnings to Blair over the invasion of Iraq, which incidentally, contributed massively to the rise of Al qaeda and Isis, and the radicalisation of some moderate muslims and those who were on the tipping point. He was spot on, like him or not.

During the Batley and Spen campaign, I saw a speech by Galloway in which he used the oh so predictable buzz words "snowflake" and "woke" within the space of a few seconds to be critical of his opponents - I've admired some of the things he has said and done in the past, but he would have lost my vote as soon as he used those words if I had lived in the constituency.

There's no cause for celebration for Labour this morning, relief yes, but a turn out of forty seven per cent tells it's own story and you can't help thinking that a combination of what seems to be a good candidate, who is from the constituency, and a lacklustre Tory one was enough for them to squeak through.

I saw Mandelson (who, disgracefully, said Labour shouldn't bother trying to secure working class votes because they'd get those anyway) and Abbott being interviewed this morning and I couldn't but help think of the question I asked on the politics board earlier today - what's more important to you, whacking lumps out of the opposite wing of your party or doing your damndest to beat this Government? I'm sure they'd answer the latter, but they've a funny way of showing it.

[Tuerto]

During the Batley and Spen campaign, I saw a speech by Galloway in which he used the oh so predictable buzz words "snowflake" and "woke" within the space of a few seconds to be critical of his opponents - I've admired some of the things he has said and done in the past, but he would have lost my vote as soon as he used those words if I had lived in the constituency.

There's no cause for celebration for Labour this morning, relief yes, but a turn out of forty seven per cent tells it's own story and you can't help thinking that a combination of what seems to be a good candidate, who is from the constituency, and a lacklustre Tory one was enough for them to squeak through.

I saw Mandelson (who, disgracefully, said Labour shouldn't bother trying to secure working class votes because they'd get those anyway) and Abbott being interviewed this morning and I couldn't but help think of the question I asked on the politics board earlier today - what's more important to you, whacking lumps out of the opposite wing of your party or doing your damndest to beat this Government? I'm sure they'd answer the latter, but they've a funny way of showing it.

Problem is that the right wing faction of the labour party are almost as bad as the tories is some respects. I understand what you're saying, but if a person is truly left wing, then how can they align themselves to right wing policies and thinking. I know that i can't. Another thing, it's always the left that are attacked for allowing the Tories free reign, hardly ever the right. The sad thing is that as people get older they seem to become more right wing and treat real left wing politics as some kind of fantasy, only believed by idealists, young students and old farts like me. It speaks volumes when i get ridiculed by some people for wanting a fairer society. That's how low political opinion has dropped, and in my opinion, Blair shoulders plenty of blame for that. So, in short, Parliamentary Labour can go and whistle.

[the other bob wilson]

Problem is that the right wing faction of the labour party are almost as bad as the tories is some respects. I understand what you're saying, but if a person is truly left wing, then how can they align themselves to right wing policies and thinking. I know that i can't. Another thing, it's always the left that are attacked for allowing the Tories free reign, hardly ever the right. The sad thing is that as people get older they seem to become more right wing and treat real left wing politics as some kind of fantasy, only believed by idealists, young students and old farts like me. It speaks volumes when i get ridiculed by some people for wanting a fairer society. That's how low political opinion has dropped, and in my opinion, Blair shoulders plenty of blame for that. So, in short, Parliamentary Labour can go and whistle.

That’s why I tried to put over that Mandelson is as bad as Diane Abbott (in fact, I think he’s worse), but they’re both part of what is Labour’s problem - they’ve had it throughout my life and probably well before that, but they’ve been able to cope with it better for much of that time. I want this dreadful Government out and that’s far more important to me than dissing whichever wing of the Labour Party I don’t agree with - the impression I get is that large numbers in the Labour Party don’t feel like that because they don’t see the Conservative party as the real “enemy”.