Politics, politics, politics

[the dza]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...s-backing-anti-austerity-policies-corbynomics

In the letter to which Danny Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is a signatory, the economists write: “The accusation is widely made that Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters have moved to the extreme left on economic policy. But this is not supported by the candidate’s statements or policies. His opposition to austerity is actually mainstream economics, even backed by the conservative IMF. He aims to boost growth and prosperity.”

 

[monkeybarry]

Danny Blanchflower?!

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...s-backing-anti-austerity-policies-corbynomics

In the letter to which Danny Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is a signatory, the economists write: “The accusation is widely made that Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters have moved to the extreme left on economic policy. But this is not supported by the candidate’s statements or policies. His opposition to austerity is actually mainstream economics, even backed by the conservative IMF. He aims to boost growth and prosperity.”

The IMF is anything but conservative, it is run by the French left and they have been proven wrong with regards to the British economy, it is to their credit that the government did not listen to them.

 

[glorygloryeze]

The IMF is anything but conservative, it is run by the French left and they have been proven wrong with regards to the British economy, it is to their credit that the government did not listen to them.

I'm sorry but can you give details as to how/why you think the IMF is in any way 'leftist'?
I have always thought of them as the bastions of liberal free marketeering worldwide but am open to have my views changed on that score..

 

[the dza]

Danny Blanchflower?!

I googled that, coz I thought it might have been a typo, but the guy goes by David or Danny. He's got a twitter as Danny; maybe he's a fan!

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Christine Lagarde is the president and is running it pretty much for the benefits of Merkel and the others in the eurozone. Her denouement of the policy of austerity in this country were well over the top and proved to be wrong. The IMF were saying Britain's route was the wrong one 5 years ago, now they have to admit we did it the right way.

Also the treatment of Greece by the IMF which has been pushed forward by Germany so they could clean up in the bond market marks the IMF out as a defunct and completely worthless organisation now.

PS. I have no idea what has happened to the type face in this post.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

I would try and find a link from the Guardian but they did not seem to report this following news story.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...t-was-wrong-on-George-Osbornes-austerity.html

Or this one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...s-must-roll-over-shameful-Greek-failings.html

Read that article and I have read several recently, the rest of the world realise that the IMF has become a mouth piece for the left in europe. Was obvious when the passed up the Mexican for the top role.

 

[scaramanga]

Tesla are trying to do it on a consumer level and have some new batteries coming out that can store electricity, they see it as a way to run it when it's cheaper off peak store it and release it during peak hours when it's more expensive.

From what I've read about those batteries they either need so much air-con to cool them that they use all theory power cyclicly or you let them get warm and their life reduces to around 3 years of charge cycles.

That's probably OK for a fairly well off douchebag vegan who drives a Toyota Pious, it's not really feasible when scaled up to the costs of a 30-40GW supply that the taxpayer has to fund. Add to that the safety risks of fairly new battery technology and you're still better off with nuclear.

 

[scaramanga]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...s-backing-anti-austerity-policies-corbynomics

In the letter to which Danny Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is a signatory, the economists write: “The accusation is widely made that Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters have moved to the extreme left on economic policy. But this is not supported by the candidate’s statements or policies. His opposition to austerity is actually mainstream economics, even backed by the conservative IMF. He aims to boost growth and prosperity.”

Guardian. No need to read any further.

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

Guardian. No need to read any further.

Let me finish that for you..."as it is free of Tory spin and anti Labour hysteria."

 

[scaramanga]

Let me finish that for you..."as it is free of Tory spin and anti Labour hysteria."

And is entirely useless as a guage of what is "to the left" as it already positions itself way to the left of the nation's political opinion.

So not on the extreme to them would almost certainly be considered extreme by the electorate.

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

And is entirely useless as a guage of what is "to the left" as it already positions itself way to the left of the nation's political opinion.

So not on the extreme to them would almost certainly be considered extreme by the electorate.

The Tories are the extremists. Just because crypto-fascist 'journalists' who scribble in Murdoch's rags say Labour are, doesn't mean I'm about to swallow it.

 

[parklane1]

To be honest any idiot who thinks that any paper does not have some kind of a agenda is living in cloud cuckoo land.

 

[the dza]

Guardian. No need to read any further.

To be honest, The Guardian have been very anti-Corbyn, bar columns by Owen Jones (who is very left wing). The letter is not The Guardian's though, they are just reporting on it. I have read that The Times reported on a similar letter last week, but I can't read that online irrc.

 

[scaramanga]

The Tories are the extremists. Just because crypto-fascist 'journalists' who scribble in Murdoch's rags say Labour are, doesn't mean I'm about to swallow it.

By definition they can't be to either extreme as they are what the electorate voted for. They may or may not be slightly to the right of centre on a global voter basis but they're the middle ground that people in this country want.

 

[monkeybarry]

By definition they can't be to either extreme as they are what the electorate voted for. They may or may not be slightly to the right of centre on a global voter basis but they're the middle ground that people in this country want.

That our electoral system dictates are elected.
We all know the numbers don't back up any point about what the (majority) of people in the country want.

 

[scaramanga]

That our electoral system dictates are elected.
We all know the numbers don't back up any point about what the (majority) of people in the country want.

Well, half the country voted for a centre-right or right wing party. 8% voted for a centrist party and another 30% for a centre-left party. If you chart a weighted average then the Conservatives definitely overlap the middle ground of the electorate.

A whopping 8.5% of the electorate voted for parties aligned with Corbyn's skewed view of the world. Take out the nationalist agenda and it would be more like 4-5%.

That very clearly puts Corbyn at the extreme of British politics with the Conservatives nothing of the sort.

 

[the dza]

Well, half the country voted for a centre-right or right wing party. 8% voted for a centrist party and another 30% for a centre-left party. If you chart a weighted average then the Conservatives definitely overlap the middle ground of the electorate.

A whopping 8.5% of the electorate voted for parties aligned with Corbyn's skewed view of the world. Take out the nationalist agenda and it would be more like 4-5%.

That very clearly puts Corbyn at the extreme of British politics with the Conservatives nothing of the sort.

I am not in the 4-5% you cite, because I voted Labour at the last election. However, I would gladly vote for a Labour party led by Corbyn, along with many millions of other Labour voters. Then we have to factor in the millions more who can vote but choose not to and whether any of them would vote for Corbyn, Red Ukippers etc. Then, the share of the electorate that votes for a Corbyn led Labour Party is much higher than 4-5%...at that point, by your own argument, his view of the world isn't on the fringes.

I didn't vote Greens or for other fringe parties because they don't have any chance of winning enough seats to gain any power - these voters vote for Labour or nobody (or, the SNP in Scotland).

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

the dza do you have any worries about Corbyn I ask because I am interested. His links to Hamas, the fact that half of his party do not want him(maybe even more) so will make it difficult for him to lead a party.

The guy seems more extreme then Farage but just at a different end of the spectrum.

 

[the dza]

the dza do you have any worries about Corbyn I ask because I am interested. His links to Hamas, the fact that half of his party do not want him(maybe even more) so will make it difficult for him to lead a party.

The guy seems more extreme then Farage but just at a different end of the spectrum.

I'm not worried about Corbyn because I really do think that he's a good person and his heart is in the right place. I don't think he craves power and I do think he wants to help people and live in a better world. I happen to agree with a lot of the policies he suggests, so I paid my £3 to Labour and voted for him. If he wins, I'll join the Labour Party and vote for him at the next General Election, assuming he is still leader at that point.

Corbyn is anti-war and is anti-racist (got nicked protesting against apartheid when our government at the time labelled Mandela a terrorist). He has shared platforms with bad people who think/do bad things, but according to the man himself, this isn't because he is a fan of what they do -- it's because he believes that to bring about peace, you should deal with people on all sides of the argument and talk to them if they are willing to talk. He is against arming terrorists (something that we end up doing) and is against dropping bombs on people just to be seen to be doing something. We ended up talking with the IRA and bringing about the peace process. Corbyn was ahead of the curve on that, as he was on apartheid, on gay rights. Things that were once just issues for the "loony left" and now accepted as mainstream positions. He's got principles and is consistent.

Tony Blair recently said that even if he could win an election with a left-wing agenda, he wouldn't want to. It is his wing, the Blairite wing of the Labour party, who are making 90% of the noise against Corbyn. These people will try and make life difficult for Corbyn to lead, but it's also possible that if enough members are united, they can turf out the MP's who just want to act as spoilers. Corbyn may have defied his party's leadership many times, but on things like the Iraq War (which he voted against) he was on the side of the membership.