Current Affairs The Labour Party

[bluestevon]

Wow is there actually still a labour party or is it just conservative light nowadays in reality

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Wow is there actually still a labour party or is it just conservative light nowadays in reality

This kind of comment doesn't help matters. It's like anything right of Stalin is "Tory light". Whether we like it or not, the Tories have won something like 70% of the elections in the past 100 years or so. We might think that says something about the leanings of the British public and who Labour need to appeal to, and it's not socialists.

 

[Tree13]

This kind of comment doesn't help matters. It's like anything right of Stalin is "Tory light". Whether we like it or not, the Tories have won something like 70% of the elections in the past 100 years or so. We might think that says something about the leanings of the British public and who Labour need to appeal to, and it's not socialists.

Well said.

Winning a GE is difficult to start with. Winning a GE whilst making no attempt to appeal to the centre or any of the moderates on the other side of the centre to yourself... That's not going to happen.

 

[bluestevon]

This kind of comment doesn't help matters. It's like anything right of Stalin is "Tory light". Whether we like it or not, the Tories have won something like 70% of the elections in the past 100 years or so. We might think that says something about the leanings of the British public and who Labour need to appeal to, and it's not socialists.

Dunno mate if the labour party effectively tailors it's policies away from socialism and towards the centre right then isn't it in essence not really the labour party anymore in anything but it's name?

It then simply becomes voting for the lesser of two evils in essence.

To a degree Thatcher broke socialism in the country (not talking so much about the unions but more so about selling the 'me first' way if thinking). Blair and Brown weren't - they where both center right politicians in truth, as evidenced by policy decisions.

 

[bluestevon]

Well said.

Winning a GE is difficult to start with. Winning a GE whilst making no attempt to appeal to the centre or any of the moderates on the other side of the centre to yourself... That's not going to happen.

Problem then lies in if you appeal to they demographic to get elected, you will stick to supporting what will keep you in power and get you reelected and avoid any unpopular social policies with that demographic mate

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Dunno mate if the labour party effectively tailors it's policies away from socialism and towards the centre right then isn't it in essence not really the labour party anymore in anything but it's name?

It then simply becomes voting for the lesser of two evils in essence.

To a degree Thatcher broke socialism in the country (not talking so much about the unions but more so about selling the 'me first' way if thinking). Blair and Brown weren't - they where both center right politicians in truth, as evidenced by policy decisions.

There isn't really a government in Europe that is fully socialist though. France is considerably more so than we are, and the left lost there recently to Macron. Sweden is often touted as a social democratic ideal but the far right made uncomfortable inroads in their recent election. The unfortunate reality is that there probably "shouldn't" be that much of a difference between the major parties, given that the majority of people probably inhabit somewhere around the centre ground. We're seeing what's happening to the Tories when they went full UKIP. It's not generally the way to win elections.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Dunno mate if the labour party effectively tailors it's policies away from socialism and towards the centre right then isn't it in essence not really the labour party anymore in anything but it's name?

It then simply becomes voting for the lesser of two evils in essence.

To a degree Thatcher broke socialism in the country (not talking so much about the unions but more so about selling the 'me first' way if thinking). Blair and Brown weren't - they where both center right politicians in truth, as evidenced by policy decisions.

ALL countries have economies that are a mixture of capitalist, socialist, and communist, even China and USA. The UK is currently leaning more and more into capitalist spectrum even with social policy because its expensive for business thus costs investors and shareholder.

 

[AsiaAsia82]

I can’t see Labour winning another election unless there’s another centre leader like Blair, unless the electoral system changes.
If we want real socialism policies we need a proportional system

 

[Oddball]

They do though. That queen made it very plain she didn't want devolution for Wales and Scotland; and she had her flunkies out in the media to make the same message was clear for Scottish independence on that vote 8 years ago.

She is also on record telling polticians she favoured a small government, which is very right wing.

So are you in favour of "Big Government"- or to put it another way- Globalism.
All your Socialist heroes are millionaires playing politics. Corbyn is one of them with millions in assets so he doesn`t pay taxes on his wealth. I`m not saying he doesn`t deserve anything he earns but he could at least own up to the fact that the NHS has been sold off right under our noses.
The Labour Party? don`t make me laugh.

 

[gonetomorrow]

The Labour ex-PMs look a lot more statesmanlike today than the Tories.

 

[Aberblue]

The Labour ex-PMs look a lot more statesmanlike today than the Tories.

A teddy bear looks more statesmanlike than Boris Johnson.

 

[Rita_Poon]

A teddy bear looks more statesmanlike than Boris Johnson.

 

[JimmyJeffers]

This kind of comment doesn't help matters. It's like anything right of Stalin is "Tory light". Whether we like it or not, the Tories have won something like 70% of the elections in the past 100 years or so. We might think that says something about the leanings of the British public and who Labour need to appeal to, and it's not socialists.

I very much doubt the majority of the British electorate could adequately define what socialism is or what socialist policies are, and would certainly struggle to define the Nordic social democratic model.
What has happened is that any policy that the right don’t like, is generally shot down as ‘socialist’ or ‘far left’ to give negative associations with Stalinism etc when this is obviously not the case.
Is more overt in the US of course after the Cold War years.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I very much doubt the majority of the British electorate could adequately define what socialism is or what socialist policies are, and would certainly struggle to define the Nordic social democratic model.
What has happened is that any policy that the right don’t like, is generally shot down as ‘socialist’ or ‘far left’ to give negative associations with Stalinism etc when this is obviously not the case.
Is more overt in the US of course after the Cold War years.

I doubt the majority of the British electorate knows a great deal about anything they're asked to vote on to be perfectly honest, and I include myself in that. If you think about the typical manifesto, they usually identify a problem (or more commonly a whole bunch of them), they propose various solutions, and then highlight why they're the best people to implement those solutions.

We're then asked to judge based on all three of those areas despite having absolutely no clue about any of them bar tribal loyalty, the sniff test, or what we're told by others. It's not really a surprise that we get such utter bellends in charge of things.

 

[TrachyBlue]

This kind of comment doesn't help matters. It's like anything right of Stalin is "Tory light". Whether we like it or not, the Tories have won something like 70% of the elections in the past 100 years or so. We might think that says something about the leanings of the British public and who Labour need to appeal to, and it's not socialists.

Politics has moved very much to the right. This Labour Party is slightly to the right of Cameron’s govt. it’s pretty obvious really.