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Feb 2020
3:31pm, 16 Feb 2020
9,543 posts
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rf_fozzy
Meanwhile if the Times is to be believed, the BBC will be axed and sold off.
Don't remember seeing that in their manifesto.
Despite the BBC being one of our key exporters. And employers.
One would have thought with the brexit shitshow about to unfold, our key exporters and employers might be important....
But then remember ideology Dom is now in charge
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Feb 2020
4:18pm, 16 Feb 2020
23,048 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Murdoch wants the BBC dead and always has.
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Feb 2020
4:45pm, 16 Feb 2020
2,015 posts
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Canute
BanjoBax
As I see it the challenge for Labour is not to become Tory-lite. It is to craft a successful ‘third way’ that combines fiscal and social policies that benefit the under-privileged in a manner that reduces inequality in society; promotes the creation of job; and looks after the environment.
Blair and Brown recognized the nature of the challenge but made some serious mistakes, including the way in which they implemented PPI (not to mention Blair’s dishonesty to justify the Iraq war). Corbyn fell back on outdated ideas that failed to grapple with current reality.
But the solution to the challenge is not an impenetrable mystery. Canada and several Scandinavian countries provide useful pointers, though each country needs to take account of its particular circumstances. The need for creative investment in the former industrial heart-lands to address the changes in the nature of trade and industry of the past 50 years is one major issue.
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Feb 2020
5:48pm, 16 Feb 2020
2,900 posts
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ThorntonRunner
What Canute describes is the party I want to vote for
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Feb 2020
5:53pm, 16 Feb 2020
33,354 posts
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LindsD piemate
And me
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Feb 2020
7:40pm, 16 Feb 2020
23,049 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Sounds like Social Democracy to me. Which is probably seen as Red Toryism by the Corbynite faithful - and there's the rub.
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Feb 2020
8:14pm, 16 Feb 2020
2,902 posts
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ThorntonRunner
I'd happily call myself a social democrat and saw the Lib Dems as my natural home, but they've been so damaged by the coalition years and some of their own incompetence that I'm not sure they can recover, and I doubt they'll be in a position to challenge for power in my lifetime.
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Feb 2020
12:33am, 17 Feb 2020
2,016 posts
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Canute
JB,
I agree that my proposed policy framework might well have been acceptable to the SDP. However, the SDP failed not because of their policies, because they broke away from the Labour party. Their polices were in fact were quite widely supported both within the party and in the population at large. At the time the Labour party was riven by factional in-fighting but nonetheless had a substantial loyal base. No matter how sensible your policies, breaking from a party with a loyal base is not a sensible strategy.
Labour has always been a squabblesome church embracing passionate people with diverse views. I am well aware of the ever-present risk of self-destruction. However, despite the recriminations that have followed the defeat of Dec 2019 and the lingering distrust between different factions, I have been impressed by the amount of common ground between the three contenders for the leadership. There is no need for a split. However there is need for a leader who can inspire both the party and the country at large, and who has the wit to steer the party away from self-destruction.
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Feb 2020
10:45am, 17 Feb 2020
23,050 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Yes, although it must also be said that under a PR system in the 80s British history would probably have turned out very differently. But that's just a hypothetical.
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Feb 2020
2:23pm, 17 Feb 2020
2,018 posts
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Canute
Both Labour and Tories have strongly opposed PR for the sake of narrow party interests. If we had either PR (or STV, which I would prefer) we might have had a few UKIP MPs in recent years, but more importantly, I suspect that we would have had governments guided by social democratic principles for several decades. However as you imply, that is hypothetical. Politics is the art of the possible and now those of us who aspire to social democratic principles need to do what is within our power to promote these principles within the current party political system.
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Fantasy General Election
Jul 2024
