Labour Party leadership election 2015

[DavidB.]

Meanwhile, George Galloway has promised to return to Labour if Corbyn becomes the new party leader. That will surely help Corbyn get elected...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3181156/George-Galloway-vows-rejoin-Labour-party-pretty-damn-quick-Jeremy-Corbyn-leader.html

[DavidB.]

Let's hope the tories don't see this

I always thought he just wanted to talk to Hamas, but calling them a force for 'social justice' takes it a bit too far in my view

Sickening. This guy is officially nuts.

[DavidB.]

There's a difference between being on the Labour Right and being a Blairite. Many journalists don't seem to grasp this.

What is this difference?

[DavidB.]

What are the chances of Corbyn becoming party leader at this point?

[DavidB.]

The discussion between Sigmund and ViaActiva is basically the debate between a socialist and a social democrat.

[DavidB.]

On a tangential note, it is utterly ridiculous that Dyab Abou Jahjah isn't allowed into the UK.

Are you for real? Abou Jahjah said that he considers every dead British (and Dutch) soldier in Iraq a victory. Even if you're against that war, that's a terrible thing to say and a good reason for barring someone from entering the UK (and the Netherlands). In general, he is nuts in a dangerous way. I'm amazed that the Flemish media seem to keep taking him so seriously, probably because people are shocked by him, leading to more newspapers being sold / more website clicks However, Corbyn actually seems to have led Abou Jahjah on a tour through the British parliament, even though Corbyn doesn't remember anymore, so if Abou Jahjah is being barred from the UK, it's something recent.

[DavidB.]

On a tangential note, it is utterly ridiculous that Dyab Abou Jahjah isn't allowed into the UK.

Are you for real? Abou Jahjah said that he considers every dead British (and Dutch) soldier in Iraq a victory. Even if you're against that war, that's a terrible thing to say and a good reason for barring someone from entering the UK (and the Netherlands). In general, he is nuts in a dangerous way. I'm amazed that the Flemish media seem to keep taking him so seriously, probably because people are shocked by him, leading to more newspapers being sold / more website clicks However, Corbyn actually seems to have led Abou Jahjah on a tour through the British parliament, even though Corbyn doesn't remember anymore, so if Abou Jahjah is being barred from the UK, it's something recent.

I'm very much for real. Abou Jahjah is nothing more than a go-to fringe 'islamo-leftist' for lazy Flemish newspapers editors needing to fill pages. I don't really see how that makes him a danger to public safety in the United Kingdom. It was annoying when people were hysterical about the guy back in the AEL days, by now it just shows a preference for stock-responses over critical evaluation. As for his comment on dead soldiers (which he rather frantically backpedalled from, by the way), literally thousands of people have said worse things on-line; it strikes me as an absolutely inane thing to do to pretend that he's some sort of scary terrorist with direct links to the Hezbollah leadership. It's as if Louise Mensch was barred from entering Bulgaria.

We seem to agree on the lazy media. My point is that unlike some random keybord warrior, this guy actually does have an audience, which makes him more dangerous than random nobodies on their parents' atticks - and this is the reason that banning him from the UK (or, hypothetically, from the Netherlands) doesn't seem so strange to me, even if that would obviously be "just" a symbolic measure.

I considered it much stranger that Geert Wilders wasn't allowed to enter the UK.

But all this doesn't have much to do with the Labour leadership election...

[DavidB.]

I'm not so sure. It is 2015. A lot could happen in five years and the Tories won't get more popular in office. Labour winning the 2020 general election doesn't have to be a pipe dream.

[DavidB.]

When (and how) will the result be published?

[DavidB.]

Gillian Duffy (the "bigoted" woman from the 2010 campaign) has said she won't be voting for Labour again.

She said this now? Why?

[DavidB.]

Newsnight graphic showing voters needed to beat the Tories:

This graphic is somewhat misleading, since it projects Labour's leadership voters furthest away from the Tory voters, which implies that they take most far-left position in the political spectrum. It is, of course, likely that Labour leadership voters are to the left of the average Labour voter, but I would never say that they constitute all of the far-left, which is a hidden meaning in this graphic.

[DavidB.]

Newsnight graphic showing voters needed to beat the Tories:

This graphic is somewhat misleading, since it projects Labour's leadership voters furthest away from the Tory voters, which implies that they take most far-left position in the political spectrum. It is, of course, likely that Labour leadership voters are to the left of the average Labour voter, but I would never say that they constitute all of the far-left, which is a hidden meaning in this graphic.

It's just number of votes needed, not spectrum position - it's showing the amount of people Corbyn needs to get to vote for him, before he beats the Labour 2015 vote and Tories 2015 vote.

I know. I might be too suspicious, but I feel this graphic contains this hidden meaning aside its obvious meaning nonetheless.

[DavidB.]

Awkward. Seems like he could use some media training.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-blanks-reporter-in-excruciating-noninterview-when-quizzed-about-lack-of-women-in-top-shadow-cabinet-roles-10499447.html

It doesn't help that Labour MPs are stirring up the pot.

https://twitter.com/DianaJohnsonMP/status/643180094383628288

[DavidB.]

Luciana Berger will be "Minister for Mental Health" in his shadow cabinet, probably to avoid rows over alleged sexism. Smart move if it doesn't look too much as "damage control".

He was already being accused of anti-Semitism for sacking Ivan Lewis as shadow secretary for Northern Ireland (not by very serious people though), so appointing Luciana Berger, who is Jewish, might be a smart move in that respect as well, although I don't think that matters nearly as much as the sexism thing, which is hitting the headlines of newspapers like the Independent.

[DavidB.]

There's nothing anti-Semitic about him sacking Ivan Lewis-it's just his nutty online following who are calling Lewis a Zionist.

For the record: I didn't claim it was.

[DavidB.]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11867337/Jeremy-Corbyn-disloyal-national-anthem-Labour-leader.html

Even if there is a campaign against him, he's not exactly making it harder for his opponents...