Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony. When I was a Trot I had it drilled into me that you don’t necessarily speak for yourself. You always have to think about how your conduct and the positions you’re arguing might reflect on your comrades. This sense of political self-responsibility, I think, is something of a virtue and my […]
Posts Tagged ‘Political Strategy’
Jeremy was right to go and schmooze with Progress
May 16th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.In yet another example of the lion laying down with the lamb, last Saturday say Jeremy Corbyn deliver a keynote speech at Progress conference. Yes, read that again. Jeremy Corbyn. Keynote. Progress conference. Debate rages whether it’s broken, but everyone can agree that politics has definitely got weird. That speech then, yes. Not a great […]
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How ‘liberal’ should Labour be?
Apr 18th, 2016 by Mike Phipps.“It is simply no longer possible to be disabled and a Tory, says angry activist,” was the Guardian’s headline about Graeme Ellis, who ran the Conservative Disability Group website until March’s budget, when he closed it down and denounced Osborne’s cuts to disability benefits. He has now applied to join the Labour Party. Over the […]
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Is there a Scottish road to Socialism?
Mar 15th, 2016 by Dave Watson.‘Is there a Scottish road to Socialism?’ This is the question posed in the third edition of this SLR Press book. The format is the same – a range of contributors from across the left wing spectrum in Scotland attempt to answer this question. The last edition was in 2013, pre-dating the independence referendum and […]
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Is Labour a campaigning party, or one that follows public opinion?
Jan 27th, 2016 by Bryan Gould.I had the pleasure of working with Deborah Mattinson during the 1987 and 1992 election campaigns when she undertook qualitative polling for the Labour Party. She was expert in interpreting what could be gleaned from focus groups, and those running the campaign, myself included, always listened attentively to what she had to say. Politicians always […]
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The Beckett Report debunks simplistic myths about why we lost in May 2015
Jan 20th, 2016 by Andy Newman.The recently published Beckett Report on the reasons for Labour’s defeat in the 2015 general election is both useful and persuasively argued. It provides a set of observations and reasoned conclusions which will help us to build for the next election, and put Jeremy Corbyn into 10 Downing Street. The report debunks some of the […]
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Shock news: Jeremy Corbyn has a coherent strategy for the British left
Jan 12th, 2016 by David Osland.Turning Britain into an extended 1950s Czechoslovak collective farm tractor station forms no part whatsoever of the political project advocated by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. Yeah, I know, this shock revelation will sorely disappoint their detractors. But what is striking is that, ever since the two men took the leading positions in the Labour […]
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Jeremy Corbyn follows the example of Lincoln
Dec 3rd, 2015 by Andy Newman.Possibly the best film I have ever seen about politics is Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. It is partly inspired by Doris Kearns Goodwin’s extraordinary book, Team of Rivals, that includes biographies of Edward Bates, Salmon Chase and William Seward, who served in Lincoln’s cabinet, but were also opponents of his who had themselves sought the Republican […]
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Just around the corner in the Labour civil war
Nov 10th, 2015 by David Osland.For me personally, much of Bennite politics boiled down to attending endless internal caucuses designed to scupper Cllr Bloggs’ appointment to Tower Hamlets allotments subcommittee, on account of his insufficient solidarity with the Nicaraguan revolution. I gather things got even more vicious the nearer you got to the top, although given the intensity of our […]
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What if Jeremy Corbyn wins? What then?
Aug 29th, 2015 by David Pavett.The likely election of Jeremy Corbyn is an exciting prospect. The thought of a break with the years of dull mental acquiescence to the dominant ideology cannot but give immense pleasure to all us lefties. But when the wave of nice thoughts has subsided I am left with a more sombre thought: are we up […]
