anothertimbre.bsky.social
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Another slide towards authoritarianism, led by a human rights lawyer and his home secretary, who was The Guardian's (and most centrists') pick for Labour leader in 2016. Labour have lost credibility as a progressive, or even a liberal force, and need a total transformation.
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Yes in a way it's extraordinary. But in another way 'politicisation without democratisation' is completely typical for a lot of centrists as neoliberalism flounders.
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Kind of appropriate title considering the racist nonsense currently coming from our government
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My only slight hope is that in next year's local elections Labour do terribly, especially in city seats, and the Greens emerge as a viable alternative for left of centre voters. We need some such tectonic shift asap
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During 2016-2020 the Lab right spent all their time determinedly undermining & attacking the left. That was successful but became a habit & that sectarianism is now a fixed mindset. But running the country requires a very different approach, vision & set of skills, which they simply don't have.
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Vote Green. I live in Sheffield Hallam, so remember Nick Clegg very clearly. The LibDems will swing rightwards quite happily under the least pressure (and Ed Davey may be nicer than Clegg, but he served in the Coalition gov too)
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yes, but the journalists among them never admit that they got it wrong. Somehow in their own view they're always right so don't feel any need to apologise, whatever the contradictions and inconsistencies.
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This is so typical of the contempt the Labour Right have got for anyone to the left of them. Perhaps it works when Labour are riding high in the polls, but Plaid are now way ahead of Labour in Wales, and it's likely to backfire.
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thanks Nikolaj
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And the result of the government's reheated focus on immigration will once again be to lose yet more votes to LibDems & Greens while not winning back any votes from Reform, who remain the real thing for those who obsessed about reducing immigration. Smart politics indeed. Onward to evisceration!
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I was active in the party for 6 years, and hardly heard of Labour First until after Starmer became leader. We need a good book explaining how they operate & control the party machine, who funds them etc. Do any of them have laudable ideals, or are they all just unpleasant power-obsessed operators?
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as an ex-Labour member, I am now free to say that this is just what we need
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and it helps that Zack is Jewish, so they won't be able to smear him as an anti-Semite as easily
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Lab hope that Reform polling well means that centre & left voters will ultimately vote tactically for them. But they're now so unpopular that in many Lab-held seats the tactical vote to keep out Reform will be for either LibDems or Greens
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The party is run in such an authoritarian way that hq are oblivious to pressure from within. But next year's elections may be a tipping-point if Reform do well again & 💚 also win a lot of city seats.
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"It doesn't know how to deal with racism except to be anti-racist...."
Well that seems to be a pretty good starting point to me.
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Thanks for being honest. Any predictions for seats won are little better than guesswork in this situation. What does seem likely is that Labour & Tories will continue to struggle over the next period. 'Interesting' times ahead.
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When Starmer became Labour leader there was a lot of wishful thinking, with commentators projecting their own beliefs onto him. He's turned out to be uninspiring, quite conservative, and - big surprise - politically inept. But the Lab right don't have a dynamic & inspiring candidate to replace him.
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Yes, internal party politicking is ultimately the most important thing for McSweeney and co
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In many city seats (like mine) where Greens are strong, Reform have no chance of winning. So why would radicals there vote 'tactically' for Starmer's right-wing Labour when we might get a left-wing Green MP?
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Also, in Nottinghamshire Broxtowe Independents - who resigned from Labour as a group last year - won 1 seat, with Teresa Ann Cullen beating the Labour Group leader. But sadly Reform won 6 of the 8 seats.
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Ruth decided to stand as an independent councillor & yesterday won easily with 57% of the vote. The Tories were 2nd with 17% and her Labour opponent came 5th, with 4% of the vote. Lovely case of local activism triumphing. democracy.derbyshire.gov.uk/mgElectionAr...
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Great story from Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire: Ruth George, was left-wing MP for High Peak 2017-2019, but narrowly lost to the Tories in 2019. She became a councillor for Whaley Bridge ward in 2021 (the first Lab candidate to win there), but was deselected by the Labour hierarchy in Feb 2025 1/2
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The trouble is their only schtick is trying to impress their financial backers with how grown-up & responsible they are by making 'tough' decisions which force those who are struggling into even greater hardship.
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The government is supposedly being steered by galaxy-brained strategists, but they are disastrously bad at politics (as well as being right-wing on multiple issues)
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The trouble is that by 2029 there will probably be as much tactical voting against Labour as there is against Reform. One thing is clear: right-wing Labour are a disaster in government. One thing that isn't clear: what progressives should do now to avert a Reform government.
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This morning that feels like a very bold assertion, Alex. While Reform are very unlikely to get majority support, with FPTP they could win enough constituencies to be in power - and Labour won't abolish FPTP because it often works in their favour.
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No, it's much more dangerous than 2013. Neither of the 'big' parties are likely to make a significant recovery before the next GE. There's a real danger of Reform taking power.
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It was also annoying because it was desperate, demented & authoritarian - which is where the government is likely to go after terrible council results, but that will only lead to still worse government & still worse results.
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Thanks Philip
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Thanks Brandon
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#nowifitwasZarahSultana
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fascinating, thanks
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Sure, but sadly I think we'll be living for a long time with the consequences of a lot people who should have known better savaging Corbyn rather than discussing the details of Labour's programme in 2017 & 2019.
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Such a shame that so many left-leaning commentators attacked rather than getting behind Labour when they had a genuinely transformative social democratic programme.
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I vacillate between near total despair & a sense that at least the existing social system is being seen more clearly for what it is, and that produces small openings. But yes, most of the time things just feel bleak.
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Tactical voting against Farage may well happen in 2029 (tho probably less than tactical voting against Labour). But in eg my Labour marginal, the most effective anti-Reform tactical vote will probably be LibDem as they're likely to have a better chance of winning than Lab.
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The Labour right's response to Reform is always to creep ever closer to their policies, and that won't change while Reform are polling well. Most pro-EU voters will reject Labour & back whichever of LibDems or Greens are stronger in their area.
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The swing from Lab to Green and/or LibDem will be massive in London & many other city seats where Reform has no chance. There'll only be a tactical swing back to Lab in seats where Reform has a real chance.
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It depends on how long Trump survives, which in turn depends on whether an effective movement of resistance is built. Harvard standing out on its own is kind of admirable, but building a broad popular alliance is what's urgently needed.
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Yes, they purport to despise the left's virtue-signalling, but Hard Labour is opportnist virtue-signalling aimed at the right, and it convinces no-one.
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They reject 'the pieties of left-wing virtue-signalling', but ironically Hard Labour is all about virtue-signalling, aimed towards a rump of macho racist right-wing working-class voters who are partly imaginary, and - insofar as they do exist - won't be tempted away from Reform anyway
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So in The Guardian's eyes Wrack is guilty of "allegedly being insensitive to allegations of anti-semitism". It seems they're determined to learn absolutely nothing from everything that's happened in Gaza, and carry on regardless.
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The scariest thing is that I don't think anyone knows what's happening. Even the brightest & best (which I'm certainly not) are guessing.
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Would any Marxist be surprised that a hegemonic block is a temporary power structure as opposed to a permanent phenomenon somehow outside of history?
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Do you have CD copies for sale, James? I tried to buy one, but the only way was via the label website using Google Pay (which I've never used & don't really want to upload).
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Neither Starmer nor Reeves are at all interested in the climate or environment. They regard any policies that address it with suspicion as somehow leftist. They can't escape a tunnel vision obsession with internal Labour politics. (The same for Rafael Behr)