Next UK Labour Leader

[Alan Stubbs]

Frankie Boyle's take on the Labour leadership race:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/16/labour-leadership-candidates-boring-rightwing-frankie-boyle

There is every chance that the changes in Scotland are structural and Labour is gone for ever, like cholera or Rangers.

[H_B]

Yes, I think the views of a shite comedian scrambling for relevance now his jokes about the disabled are passe, are bringing a lot to the party.

Your posts are normally absolutely woeful, but this must be a new low .

What next? Russell Howard's take on the EU Referendum?

[Fide]

Has H_B acknowleged his humiliating General Election predictions yet or does he simply have no shame?

I see he chose to ignore your post and attempted instead some bants on the post below.

How utterly humiliating for him.

[Todders]

Yes, I think the views of a shite comedian scrambling for relevance now his jokes about the disabled are passe, are bringing a lot to the party.

Your posts are normally absolutely woeful, but this must be a new low .

What next? Russell Howard's take on the EU Referendum?

^^^

Loved Frankie Boyle until he found out he was an independence supporter. Feels cheated and often cries into his pillow.

[Ira Gaines]

To be fair, Frankie Boyle is shite.

[milton75]

Yes, I think the views of a shite comedian scrambling for relevance now his jokes about the disabled are passe, are bringing a lot to the party.

Your posts are normally absolutely woeful, but this must be a new low .

What next? Russell Howard's take on the EU Referendum?

Playing the man rather than the ball? How unlike you.

Here's the article... just in case you were so sure there was nothing of value, and therefore couldn't bring yourself to click the link:

The Labour leadership election is an oasis of boredom

Interesting times in British politics. We can look forward to David Cameron’s merciless manoeuvring against his rivals – “It’s a touch unconventional, Boris, but I’m appointing you Israel’s ambassador to Syria!” – and a London mayoral race between a group of characters you would normally expect to see arguing about how to deal with Batman. And yet we know that none of this is good, in the same way we know that seeing a beautiful mural on the side of a building just means that you’re in a really shit neighbourhood.

At least the Labour leadership election offers a reassuring oasis of boredom. The candidates have few redeeming features, or features of any kind. They work most successfully not as politicians, but as a sort of broad-ranging challenge to satire.Yvette Cooper has a broken, downbeat delivery that could make Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah sound like a cancer diagnosis. Andy Burnham sounds like he wishes that there were speedbumps in Mario Kart. They both give interviews with the halting, guarded intonation of a hostage. Liz Kendall at least has the alarming air of an Apprentice candidate, and surely that show’s unique dynamic – where you can be fired without actually having a job – meshes neatly with the party’s increasingly colourful views on workers’ rights.

Of course, none of the frontrunners are proper socialists; they don’t even hate each other. Jeremy Corbyn did scrape together enough nominations to stand, causing the left of the party to get quite excited that it is still allowed to lose. One of the few decent politicians remaining in the Labour party, he reminds me of those old drinkers you see haunting a new bar because they used to go to the pub that was there before.

Much of the contest so far has involved the candidates fretting about how the party can be more pro-business. It is not even clear what they mean by this word “business”. Are they worried about small businesses that care about being able to borrow money; manufacturing businesses that care about high growth; transnational businesses that care about you taking your tax bill and shoving it up your arse; or the banking business, which doesn’t care whether anybody lives or dies but would like a lot of hot Russian mafia money to flash about the dying nervous system of the finance industry as though we’re treating Aids with cocaine? Obviously, those are all interests that sometimes oppose each other in various ways. I’m reduced to imagining that “pro-business” is simply a rhetorical code for “rightwing”, and that we are watching leadership contenders wonder aloud whether they are being rightwing enough.

We’re told that they are responding to the concerns of voters. Labour keeps saying: “We’re concerned about immigration because that’s what people say on the doorstep.” You’re a political party. You’re not asking people if they want anything down the shops – you’re meant to have guiding principles. Also, it is a mistake to think that British people say what they mean. We’ll tell you that our core value is hard work, but nobody actually means it. People know that there is no social mobility any more; hard work doesn’t help you get ahead. Working hard just means that you finish early and get given more work. Hardworking is a word we came up with to describe people at work who we like but are a bit thick. We don’t remember hardworking footballers. We celebrate the ones who were unbelievably brilliant but died at 26 when heading an effort against the crossbar dislodged a fatal dose of ketamine from the back of their nose.

There is a very simple case to be made against austerity, but Labour doesn’t have the guts to make it. This seems strange when it was wiped out by an anti-austerity party in Scotland. The SNP trounced them so emphatically that Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish scriptwriters had to desperately search their memories for words that express pleasure. “Hang on! I think my mum said something when I got my degree … ‘not bad’, I think it was – write down ‘not bad’.” There is every chance that the changes in Scotland are structural and Labour is gone for ever, like cholera or Rangers.

A third of the electorate didn’t vote at the last election, and many who said they were going to vote Labour didn’t vote at all. Can it really be easier to convert Tories than to reconnect with your own core support? Perhaps these prospective leaders simply live in a class bubble, and their understanding of real people lacks nuance. One thing about being pro-business and working with business is that you spend a lot of time with, well, Tories. Perhaps you spend a lot of time with other politicians, and at the echo chamber of party events. So you get your information about people from polls (which can be misleading) and the media (which is deliberately misleading), and we end up with a leadership campaign aimed at a public who hate benefits, immigrants and shirkers. Labour’s candidates seem to have the same estimation of the public as a tabloid editor. Still, they must know that they are not going to win the next election, barring some kind of apocalyptic meltdown of the banking sector. I make them about 3-1.

So, rather than whinge about the source, why not just tell us which bits are wrong and why?

[Alan Stubbs]

Yes, I think the views of a shite comedian scrambling for relevance now his jokes about the disabled are passe, are bringing a lot to the party.

Your posts are normally absolutely woeful, but this must be a new low .

What next? Russell Howard's take on the EU Referendum?

Forgive me if I don't pay too much attention to your advice on quote selections Anthony.

[doulikefish]

Nobody watch the debate? Me neither but i believe Nicola Sturgeon got name checked loads

[Bully Wee Villa]

Watched it. Corbyn is closest to my political views so wanted him to win. I'm not sure his tactic of telling members of the audience off and pointing at them when they say something he doesn't like is going to win too many votes.

Kendall probably seemed the most at ease and confident. Which is a shame as she's the one I least want to win.

I don't think any candidate has done enough to persuade me to part with £3 so I can vote yet.

[Bully Wee Villa]

Oh yeah, Sturgeon did get a few mentions. Corbyn was keen to talk her up. Understandably, as he wants to persuade people Labour need to head left to undermine the SNP, rather than turn right to cancel out the Tories.

My toes curled when Yvette Cooper tried to do a joke about Sturgeon wearing higher heels than her. Overall she didn't come across too badly though. The favourite, Burnam, was a bit anonymous. Seemed to want to agree with everybody on everything.

[mjw]

Watched it. Corbyn is closest to my political views so wanted him to win. I'm not sure his tactic of telling members of the audience off and pointing at them when they say something he doesn't like is going to win too many votes.

Kendall probably seemed the most at ease and confident. Which is a shame as she's the one I least want to win.

I don't think any candidate has done enough to persuade me to part with £3 so I can vote yet.

There was a bit about this £3 vote on Daily Politics today. Tories are supposedly signing up to vote for Corbyn.

[Fotbawmad]

Personally, I think the next leader will be a transitional leader in order to give some up and coming leader in their early-mid 30's whose not so trapped in the old ways of thinking time to emerge, because currently the ones who're standing are either Blairites or Old Labour types. The only logical direction I can see Labour going is to be more freedom based. They need to say they're against the surveillance state and militarism. These are things that the Tories most definitely don't stand for.

[Mr Bairn]

Has H_B acknowleged his humiliating General Election predictions yet or does he simply have no shame?

Several times. He always combined it by saying something like "I also got the referendum wrong. I thought that would have been close."

[milton75]

Has H_B explained what bits of that Frankie Boyle article are untrue yet?

[H_B]

Playing the man rather than the ball? How unlike you.

Here's the article... just in case you were so sure there was nothing of value, and therefore couldn't bring yourself to click the link:

So, rather than whinge about the source, why not just tell us which bits are wrong and why?

Where exactly did I say it was wrong?

Its a Captain Obvious article that says nothing of any interest or displaying any insight beyond the banal and superficial. I can see why it appeals to someone like you that's not too bright.

Got ant more gems for us today Sodje? Milton Jones' take on the Greek debt crisis perhaps?

[bob the tank]

A totally unimpressive bunch, Corbyn too old, Cooper and Birnham have the taint of Bliar and Kendall spouting business,business,business like a Tory front bencher. Put a fork in them, labour is done...

[Davi3j]

Where exactly did I say it was wrong?

Its a Captain Obvious article that says nothing of any interest or displaying any insight beyond the banal and superficial. I can see why it appeals to someone like you that's not too bright.

Got ant more gems for us today Sodje? Milton Jones' take on the Greek debt crisis perhaps?

[H_B]

A totally unimpressive bunch, Corbyn too old, Cooper and Birnham have the taint of Bliar and Kendall spouting business,business,business like a Tory front bencher. Put a fork in them, labour is done...

Just to check here... are you claiming Labour will never again form the government of the UK?

[ICTChris]

I watched it, I thought that it was pretty uninspiring. Kendall and Cooper did OK, I thought Burnham was awful. On a personal basis I think Kendall came across best, Cooper was a bit insincere and Burnham was giving it "I'm a normal Northern bloke me" schtick. If I had to make a prediction I'd say that Burnham will win. Labour could go into the 2020 General Election with Burnham and Tom Watson as leader and deputy. Remarkable really.

One thing I thought was that apart from Kendall the three candidates all fell into the left-wing trap of hand waving, caterwauling negativity - "everything is terrible, isn't life awful, what a horrible place this is". Britain isn't terrible. There are probably some things that can be better but falling into the trap of drearying on about how dreadful everything is won't work. It's a difficult trap for opposition leaders to avoid and the only one who did it was Kendall, and even she wasn't hugely convincing.

[H_B]

the three candidates all fell into the left-wing trap of hand waving, caterwauling negativity - "everything is terrible, isn't life awful, what a horrible place this is". Britain isn't terrible. There are probably some things that can be better but falling into the trap of drearying on about how dreadful everything is won't work

This is something the Nats engaged in during the referendum also. Cringeworthy negativity about "broken Britain" and how awful a place it is. Which is of course nonsense and just comes over as incredibly childish.

I agree with you that it's an awful selection, and really one that doesn't matter much. None of them are likely to win the next election - they are a stop gap til someone better comes along.

Allan Johnston is the only actually credible leader Labour have missed out on. He would have been excellent. The fact he had no interest in doing the job just adds to that feeling really.