Why should Labour demean themselves to engage with a public that are all as thick as mince? Better to discuss theories in a smart, Islington restaurant
Certainly part of their problem is that the working class no longer seem to feel they represent them. They have drifted away from ordinary people imo. The supposedly right wing Tories have at least elected two female leaders and many ethnic minorities to high office.
I get this argument about true Labour voters and the new London elitists. It reminds me of the times when QPR kept appointing the wrong managers ( before Warnock) that didn't really understand the ethos of the club. Maybe a split would be a good idea?
Actually, no. Most of the population is incredibly stupid though. It’s a complete myth, created by Islingtonian Tories, that Labour somehow only represent Islington - and there’s plenty of poverty in Islington. Even if people go with the “they don’t represent us” argument, how the **** do the likes of Sunak and Johnson represent them better? It’s completely illogical.
Its always tit for tat in politics. Its becoming rather more polluted everyday. The cost of living crisis is becoming more apparant every day. 'Levelling up' is the most ridiculous slogan to date. Has this country progressed over the last decade or so? Are the average people better off?
Thats always been my debate with some of my pals. How the **** does Boris Johnson represent you?! Thankfully they have witnessed exactly why he doesnt now, albeit too late.
Not sure what the answer is. There are factions within all parties for sure, but Labour really do seem at odds with themselves.
You're right, Labour have moved away from the (conservative with a small c) working classes, and instead, moved into identity politics.
But why? This the point I'm trying to make. Why aren't people voting Labour? Maybe, just maybe, it's down to Labour themselves.
I presume we all look at parties that will represent us the closest to what we want in life. I dont want constant lies and u turns, i know all parties are capable of this but this government have taken it to new levels. Surely trusting the leader of your country has to count for something or do we just accept blatant lies as the norm?
If anyone is interested in looking into 'the Labour question' in more depth, I thoroughly recommend 'Broken Heartlands' by Sebastian Payne. Payne (an FT journalist by day) travels through ten red wall constituencies, interviewing people across the community in those ten constituencies, seeking to understand why people made the switch from red to blue. At times it almost felt like a Bill Bryson travel book with the politics thrown in on the side. I listened to it on Audible and each chapter (one of the ten constituencies) makes for a good 'episode' in podcast parlance. His conclusion is that, naturally, multiple factors led to the 2019 result, including the unpopularity of Corbyn, the popularity of Boris, the clear vs unclear positions on Brexit. Payne goes beyond these shorter-term factors, however, and looks at the social and economic trends across the last two decades in these seats, including the changing nature of work, how public services have changed, and how communities come together in different ways. The chapter in Grimsby stands out as a particularly interesting read/listen, as did the trips to Sedgefield and Blyth. As for winning next time, there is clearly some low hanging fruit for Labour - not having Corbyn as leader, Brexit being a much lesser issue by 2024, Boris losing at least some of his star power. Bigger challenges remain still. They need to develop a coherent position on how to revitalise towns to break back out beyond their support in cities. Lisa Nandy is a smart and decent MP who is leading their work on this and I'm interested to see what she comes up with.
Maybe. People will always vote for comforting lies over uncomfortable truths though and there’s never been a Party happier to throw out comforting lies than the current incarnation of the not so Conservative Party.
Whatever happened to that 'Russia report' did we ever get around to implementing all those recomendations?
