Friday 29 November 2019

Political thoughts on black Friday..

.As a third Labour canvasser is violently threatened by far right thugs.. and as we hear of broken ribs and a broken jaw in two others the Tories threaten Channel 4 over their licence for daring to make a symbolic point with ice sculptures. As Boris sends for daddy and Michael Gove the stench of Weimar floats across our land. The heirs of the SA menace the left on the streets and IDS bleats about graffiti on his office. As the song of a government broadcasting organisation pumps out their tune sung as a duet with Johnson "I've got you, Beeb" we see how high the stakes are becoming. Yesterday I taught a course on the book by Hannah Arendt on Totalirianism and i saw the 2019 election looking back at us 

The stakes are heightening. As Labour launches regional manifestos real action is planned on years of neglect by Tories and Blairite Labour of the left behind As Labour renews itself bringing green jobs and hope we see that Corbyn must win. As Adam Price reveals the dependency of Plaid on the chemical farmers of rural Wales leading him to deny or forget basic principles of animal ecology we see realuty. Last night two young people new activists within the party tell me the enthusiasm they see around them and take loads of leaflets away to deliver. The swing is coming.. As the Bullinngdon bullies and their informal "sympathizers" act out impiied intimidation and propaganda in equal measure. With 11 campaigning days to go we see the rise of post modern crypto fascism as an electoral tool. After December 12th all will be clear and all revealed. Yet as we await the results the threat grows to the creation of a new casino capitalist tax havened 'Weimar' awaiting a new Hitler and a new Dr Gobbels...Johnson is the Sorceror's apprentice releasing demonic forces and monstrous possibilities ...beware the creatures of the abyss...welcome to black Friday....on the last day of registering to vote 459,000 overwhelmingly signed up ...there is a world to win..but the choice could not be starker...




My neighbours don't drink at the local
Or have kippers for breakfast like me
The food that they eat smells disgusting
They'd rather drink coffee than tea
It's true that their kids are respectful
They gave me their seat on the bus
But it's just that there's so many of them
That I fear what will become of us
I'm not racist, all I want is
To make things how they used to be
But change is strange and
Nobody's listening to me
I cheered when our side won the Cold War
Spread freedom and peace all around
Now there's folks speaking Russian in Tesco's
It's a shame the wall had to come down
I know some are fleeing from war zones
To keep their young children from harm
But my parents stayed put through the Blitz years
And me? I was sent to a farm

Thursday 28 November 2019

The Psychology of Fascism

The Psychology of Fascism


The continuing rise of fascism around the world is drawing increasing attention particularly as it takes firmer grip within national societies long seen to have rejected it.
Some recent studies have reminded us of the characteristics of fascist movements and individuals, particularly as they manifest among politically active fascists. For example, in his recent book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us And Them Professor Jason Stanley has identified ten characteristics shared by fascists which have been simply presented in the article ‘Prof Sees Fascism Creeping In U.S.’
These characteristics, readily evident in the USA, Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and elsewhere today, include belief in a mythic (false) past, propaganda to divert attention and blame from the true source of corruption, anti-intellectualism and a belief in the ‘common man’ while deriding ‘women and racial and sexual minorities who seek basic equality as in fact seeking political and cultural domination’, promotion of elite dogma at the expense of any competing ideas (such as those in relation to freedom and equality), portrayal of the elite and its agents as victims, reliance on delusion rather than fact to justify their pursuit of power, the use of law and order ‘not to punish actual criminals, but to criminalize “out groups” like racial, ethnic, religious and sexual minorities’ which is why we are now ‘seeing criminality being written into immigration status’, and identification of “out groups” as lazy while attacking welfare systems and labor organizers, and promoting the idea that elites and their agents are hard working while exploited groups are lazy and a drain on the state.
In an earlier article ‘Fascism Anyone?’, published in the Spring 2003 issue of Free Inquiry Magazine, Professor Laurence W. Britt identified fourteen shared threads that link fascists. These include powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism, disdain for the importance of human rights, identification of enemies/scapegoats (such as communists, socialists, liberals, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals and ‘terrorists’) as a unifying cause, obsession with national security and avid identification with the military, sexism, a controlled/compliant mass media that promotes the elite agenda, a manufactured perception that opposing the power elite is tantamount to an attack on religion, corporate power protected by the political elite while the power of labor is suppressed or eliminated, disdain for intellectuals and the arts, expanded police power and prison populations in response to an obsession with the crime and punishment of ordinary citizens (while elite crimes are protected by a compliant judiciary), rampant cronyism and corruption, and fraudulent elections defended by a judiciary beholden to the power elite.
Offering a more straightforward characterization of fascism in the US context, which also highlights its violence more explicitly than the characterizations above, the eminent Norwegian peace research scholar Professor Johan Galtung explains it thus: ‘US Fascism? Yes, indeed; if by fascism we mean use of massive violence for political goals. US fascism takes three forms: global with bombing, droning and sniping all over; domestic with military weapons used across race and class faultlines; and then NSA-National Security Agency spying on everybody.’ See ‘The Fall of the US Empire – And Then What?’
Among other recent commentaries, one draws attention to a recent fascist gathering in the USA – see ‘Davos For Fascists’ – another to the ways in which fascism, under various names, is being effectively spread – see ‘How the new wave of far-right populists are using football to further their power’ – and another warns of focusing too narrowly on one issue and missing the wider threat that fascism poses. See ‘Fascism IS Here in USA’.
In any case, for those paying attention to what is happening in places like the United States, Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and elsewhere, it is easy to see that the rush to embrace fascism is accelerating.
But why? Surely, in this ‘enlightened’ age, notions such as freedom, democracy, human rights and equality are deeply embedded in our collective psyche, particularly in the West. We believe that elections should be, and are, ‘free and fair’ and not determined by corporate donations; we believe that the judiciary is independent of political and corporate influence. But are they?
Well, in fact, the evidence offered by the casual observation of events in the places mentioned above, as well as elsewhere around the world, tells us that none of this is any longer, if it ever was, the case. Let me explain why.
Fascism is a political label but, like any such label, it has a psychological foundation. That is, the political behavior of those who are fascists can be explained by understanding their psychology. Of course, all behavior can be explained by psychology but I will focus on the psychology of fascist behavior here.
There have been attempts to understand and explain the psychology of fascism, starting with the early work of Wilhelm Reich in The Mass Psychology of Fascism. So what is the psychology of individuals who are fascists?
You might not be surprised to read that the psychology of fascists is complex and is a direct outcome of the nature of the extraordinary violence to which they were subjected as children.
The Psychology of Fascists
Let me briefly identify the psychological profile of fascists and the specific violence (‘visible’, ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’) that generates a person with this psychology. For a thorough explanation and elaboration of this profile, and explanations of the terms ‘visible’, ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’ violence, see ‘Why Violence?’ and ‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’.
First, fascists are terrified and they are particularly terrified of those individuals who perpetrated violence against them when they were a child although this terror remains unconscious to them. Second, this terror is so extreme that fascists are too terrified to consciously identify to themselves their own perpetrator (one or both parents and/or other significant adults who were supposed to love them) and to say that it is this individual or individuals who are violent and wrong.
Third, because they are terrified, they are unable to defend themselves against the original perpetrator(s) but also, as a result, they are unable to defend themselves against other perpetrators who attack them later in life. This lack of capacity to defend themselves leads to the fourth and fifth attributes – a deep sense of powerlessness and a deep sense of self-hatred. However, it is too terrifying and painful for the individual to be consciously aware of any of these feelings/attributes.
Sixth, because they are terrified of identifying that they are the victim of the violence of their own parents (and/or other significant adults from their childhood) and that this violence terrified them, fascists unconsciously delude themselves about the identity of their own perpetrator. They will unconsciously identify their ‘perpetrator’ as one or more individuals of whom they are not actually afraid from an existing ‘legitimized victim’ group such as children or people from a different gender, race, religion or class. This is also because their unconscious terror and self-hatred compels them to project onto people who are ‘controllable’ (because their original perpetrators never were). For this reason, their victims are (unconsciously) carefully chosen and are always relatively powerless by comparison.
This is easy to do because, seventh, children who become fascists have been terrorized into accepting a very narrow-minded and dogmatic belief set that excludes consideration of those in other social (including gender, racial, religious or class) groups. The idea that they might open-mindedly consider other beliefs, or the rights of those not in the ‘in-group’, is (unconsciously) terrifying to them. Moreover, because they have been terrorized into adopting their rigid belief set, fascists develop an intense fear of the truth; hence, fascists are both bigoted and self-righteous. In addition, the belief set of fascists includes a powerful and violently reinforced ‘lesson’: ‘good’ means obedient; it does not mean intrinsically good, loving and caring.
Eighth, and as a result of all of the above, fascists learn to unconsciously project their self-hatred, one outcome of their own victimhood, as hatred for those in the ‘out-groups’. This ‘justifies’ their (violent) behavior and obscures their unconscious motivation: to remain unaware of their own suppressed terror and self-hatred.
Ninth, fascists have a compulsion to be violent; that is, they are addicted to it. Why? Because the act of violence allows them to explosively release the suppressed feelings (usually some combination of fear, terror, pain, anger and powerlessness) so that they experience a brief sensation of delusional ‘relief’. Because the ‘relief’ is both brief and delusional, they are condemned to repeat their violence endlessly.
But the compulsion to be violent is reinforced by another element in their belief set, the tenth characteristic: fascists have a delusional belief in the effectiveness and morality of violence; they have no capacity to perceive its dysfunctionality and immorality.
And eleventh, the extreme social terrorization experience to which fascists have been subjected means that the feelings of love, compassion, empathy and sympathy, as well as the mental function of conscience, are prevented from developing. Devoid of conscience and these feelings, fascists can inflict violence on others, including their own children, without experiencing the feedback that conscience and these feelings would provide.
What Can We Do?
There is no simple formula for healing the badly damaged psychology of a fascist (or those who occupy a proximate ‘political space’ such as conservatives who advocate violence): it takes years of violent parental and adult treatment to create a fascist and so the path to heal one is long and painful, assuming the support for the individual to do so is available. Nevertheless, fascists can heal from the terror and self-hatred that underpin their psychology. See ‘Putting Feelings First’. And they can be assisted to heal by someone who is skilled in the art of deep listening. See ‘Nisteling: The Art of Deep Listening’.
Unfortunately, given their cowardice, fascists are unlikely to have the courage to seek the appropriate emotional support to heal. In the meantime, those of us so inclined must resist their violence and, ideally, this should be done strategically, particularly if we want impact against fascist national leaders. See Nonviolent Campaign Strategy or Nonviolent Defense/Liberation Strategy.
The good news is that we can avoid creating fascists. If you want to nurture a child so that they become compassionate and caring, live by their conscience and act with morality and courage in all circumstances, including when resisting fascists, then consider making ‘My Promise to Children’.
You might also consider joining the worldwide movement to end all violence, fascist or otherwise, by signing the online pledge of  ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’.
In essence: Fascists are terrified, full of self-hatred and powerless. But, too scared to feel their own terror, self-hatred and powerlessness, they unconsciously project this as fear of, and hatred for, the people in one or more ‘legitimized victim’ groups, including their own children (thus creating the next generation of fascists). They then try to ‘feel powerful’ by seeking violent control over these people themselves or by seeking to have violent control exercised over these people by various ‘authorities’, ranging from school teachers and religious figures to the police, military and various corporate and government agencies.
No matter how much control they have over others, however, it is impossible to control their own terror, self-hatred and powerlessness. So they are unconsciously and endlessly driven to seek (delusional) ‘relief’ by violently controlling those in legitimized victim groups. It is because their own children are the most immediately available ‘uncontrollable’ target that fascism is readily perpetuated.
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Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is here. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Dont believe the polls......



The Tories are falling as a new 1945 begins...I begin to sense on the horizon something profound and long in coming. I sense a whiff of 1945. It's still vague and unclear and with it a new Attlee about to appear. Since the launch of the Labour manifesto nearly a week ago I have perceived a flavour growing more substantial and less ephemeral as the days have gone by. Today's electric revelation of 451 pages of American corporate desire is helping the ectoplasmic ghosts of high capitalism manifest. With it comes Trumpian greed and a vicious dismissal of people's rights and care. As the Fib Dems are exposed creating facsimiles of local tabloid newspapers their desperation is revealed..As fake poll after poll is revealed and Labour membership rises with its poll ratings fear ripples across the faces and sweat drops from their corporate loving arm pits. Dominic Cummings is losing of the agenda. It's easy to use Gobbels like propaganda in a Referendum but in a general election multiple events and issues arise blowing apart his Brexit election. The fear is growing and the shades of 1945 undergo rebirth.

I speak to an old friend I was at his Bar Mitzvah some 35 years ago. He explains to me that Ephraim Mervis is like a representitive of the born again Christians of the American Republican party. And while 80% of his narrow right wing group seek to 'protect" themselves from socialism that anti semeticism is an excuse. He tells me that the Jewish community is not monolithic and has a long honorable respect for the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn.

As Baroness Wars I says that Boris Johnson exists in a sphere of privilege where racist, sexist and homophobic tropes exist. She is precise and tells of Islamophobia that Muslims experience within the Tory party. She tells of candidates told to keep quiet or there political career will be short. She tells of pressure on Sajiv Javid to stay quiet on his call for an inquiry into Tory Islamophobia. It's electric and the black swans of events begin to land. The Tory party is buckling.

We hear stories of the Tory Party having to pay people to deliver it's leaflets when approached by others they tell people they are not really Tories that they are just doing a job. The Tories are falling and it's speeding up in as the collapse comes. What next will the desperate establishment do? Will Murdoch write of a corpse found on Corbyn's allotment? Will Mark Drakeford be alleged to be the High Priest a Satanic sect? Clearly witnessed by Neil McEvoy and one Jac o" the North and supported by the members of the alt right party Gwlad Gwlad? The beast is cornered and fading fast but it will have one more vicious strike .. 1945 is coming as political hegemony shifts. Chuka Umunna prepares to replace the hapless Swinson as the Lib Dems appear unlikely to exceed the 12 MPs they elected in 1945 or indeed 2017.

Perhaps the SNP now hinting at support for a Labour policy programme will be joined by Plaid and the Greens . The coming Labour government may not gain the 390 MPs of 1945 but other progressive parties will make 1945 come again . Socialism is coming ...#CorbynbyChristmas

Wednesday 27 November 2019

Of Ephraim Mirvis and the Scapegoat political projections and displacements

. I am two generations from being Jewish. My fathers mothers maiden name was Elias when her ancestors came flering from the wrath and anti semeticism of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain changed their name from Eli. There is Irish ancestry too yet it was my mother's generation who obscured and hid the Irish link. It came from an age of 'No blacks and No Irish" and my great Grandfather an Irish migrant was hidden from view. The chief Rabbi forgets or seeks to obscure the rantings of the Daily Mail against Jewish migrants in 1900 and of their opposition to those fleeing the Nazi Party. When two thirds of the Tory Party believe the conspiracy theories of the far right the Chief Rabbi needs to wake up.It is economic inequality that stirs anti semiticism and islamophobia. It is the wealthy and powerful who search for the scapegoat and blame the other.



The right wing Ephraim Mirvis defends privilege and inequality and by supporting the Tories he feeds racist thought and outlook. Those who support the political right clearly have learnt nothing from the lessons of Jewish history. From Marx to Freud and onwards the observations are clear. Four people, all Jews, leave their thought across the the Western World. Jesus Christ, Freud, Marx and Trotsky stand like giants in their influence. Len Mars my Antropoligist tutor long talked to me of the role of the "professional outsider" of Jewish social scientists. O Those who stand outside of mainstream society are often best able to see blind spots and hidden prejudices. Such is the role of the Jews, the Irish, and all those who came fleeing for their lives . Those who suffer exile see far more and feel far more. Those who are persecuted and have family and friends murdered often find that the experience of persecution blinds them to their own shadow and protections. In the cycle of persecutors, persecuted and rescuer many demons of hate and xenophobia are released into the world. The Jewish concept of the scapegoat tells us much and should remind us more of the psyche of the Chief Rabbi and his Freudian and Gramscian defence mechanisms. As those registering to vote is 40% up on 2017 and Labour close in on Uxbridge and Chingford the establishment feels fear. Beware Ephraim Irvis the qliphotic demons of Kaballah that you dance with. Scapegoats are many and varied and when one looks into the abyss the demons look back and see your soul. Is it not odd now that once Labour rises in the polls their are less opinion polls published.. .


Tuesday 26 November 2019

The turning of tbe tide and tbe fear of the few

.

. As we hear of attacks on two Labour activists where one had their jaw broken and another their ribs we have Radio 4 playing up once more anti Semiticism as the Labour party once more closes the gap. This time the far right takes violence to left wing activists while sine look the other way. As Michael Heseltine desperately tells us that Corbyn will not win we find 50,000 new voters registering last night and we have the whole of today to register more. As the Labour vote in Wales rises 9% and the latest poll shows Labour nudging up another 2% to 34 and the Lib Dems flat line at 13% we discover the proportion of remain voters recognising that Labour is their best bet. We find Labour leave voters returning from the Brexit Party as issues around the NHS and public services we see the turn of the tide. As Boris Johnson and Farage run from the climate change debate on Radio 4 we see the reality of their narrow vision and real intentions. This is not a Brexit election and other issues crowd in. The narrow xenophobic and reactionary Cummings approach in a referendum does not transfer to a non binary multiple issued general election. 



As Labour posters go up and Labour membership surge, as 163 economists and academics praise the Labour economic policy the Chief Rabbi unleashes an error of catastrophic proportions not seen since Churchill's error of 1945. As Tony Blair and the DUP rail against Corbyn and Socialism we see the ripple of fear flash across the face of the establishment. Corbyn has spent a lifetime fighting them, they know it .A lifetime fighting racism and fascism we see the reality that our rulers would prefer the far right as they would control the left and the Trade Unions. It's been like that since Weimar. 




The reality is that the violence against Labour activists and the Goebbels like propaganda of Dominic Cummings brings about a curious cognitive dissonance in people who should know better and remember history. Kristallnacht and the SA are amongst us and around us. It's equality and Socialism they fear like the desperate Churchill in 1945 alleging a gestapo if the socialists win we see the creation of the conditions and circumstances of Labour's 1945 victory. Where there is fear there is power and there 16 days left for a world to win for us all and for Labour and Socialism.. It's for the many not the few and the few are afraid, very, very afraid...they want to hide from you that the system is rotten and will do anything to obscure it .

Monday 25 November 2019

17 days till polling


17 days till polling . The political activists I know are tired but are driven on by sheer determination a.nd passion. We scan social media from every poll to every statement. We collect leaflets, we knock on doors, our phones are continually on charge. The tweets are retweeted and written . We are merciless with our political opponents and we push our friends into putting up posters. We lo k onto data and pull apart the analysis of polls, policy and pretence. I find my inner Bolshevik and release him into the great sea of politics. He is obliging and savage I excuse weakness and ignorance amongst my own side and mercilessly expose it amongst opponents . 

There are two days to go to register to vote. I search out people to register. I nag people I know to find more. The obssessional traits of the political activist us in full flood and full power.
I note the Fib Dems wilting in the heat of the campaign. He first blocks me then decides not to so that my posts can be observed. He has spent the first few weeks of the campaign posting inane stories alleging everything from anti Semiticism to Corbyn being everything wicked and who has caused every ill since the world began. I note if you fight back the Fib Dems crack and out comes their shadow as brutal and vicious as any Tory. I noticed that when Jo Swindleson was confronted on BBCQT her "brass knecked" shadow flickered like a balrog across her arrogant face. My inner "Bolshevik" is milder, more determined and more controlled but more far more resilient. As the youth vote registering turns to a flood, as three million WASPI women women peel off and head to Labour my inner logical observer and my socialist heart seek balance between themselves. The days run down to December 12th and it's difficult to see beyond. The inner shadows and demons of prejudice and hate are unleashed as the Tory Party turns it's claws to its enemies. There is no middle ground, there never was and the Fib Dems who have been moving to the right now for twenty years choose the market and the defence of property. They revert to a Whig versus Tory model and the rest of must simply choose between socialism or barbarism. I turn back to the campaign my words run out as I look for more data, more polls and more policies it's a wet Monday as the X6 heads to Swansea...

Friday 22 November 2019

Labour embraces Ecosocialism....


A change is going to come the Labour manifesto..The signs stir, the omens reveal themselves and critics, political soothsayers and activists begin to notice something just below the surface. Anecdotally Labour activists tell me of people ask I g for posters. Canvassers tell me of a swing beginning to Labour. On radio 4 I hear Adam Price channel and plagiarize a Corbyn new deal green industrial revolution. I smile to myself as I sense a discourse change. Polly Toynbee the arch social democrat praises the Labour manifesto as ambition versus Tory managed decline. Johnson flees the leaders debate as the NHS replaces Brexit as the main election issue. Rosseau replaces Hobbes as the right resurrects Maureen Lipmann forgetting that in 2014 she poured bile on the Jewish Ed Milliband for being too left wing.
The Tories create fake Twitter accounts and fake websites. Dominic Cummings and his propaganda is failing fast as the discourse changes. I notice that Jo Swindleson is quieter and I suspect that as the Fib Dem campaign falters she will be drawn back to defend her vulnerable constituency from the SNP. I suspect she will lose her seat . Within Wales they draw back their forces seeking to defend their pleasant but bland leader Jane Dodds. I suspect that you would now find Frank H Little and Robert Francis scuttling around the highways and byways of the constituency. As panic behind to rise...the puppets of the Lib Dem reveal the nature of the puppet masters their neo liberal gods of destiny.

The number registering to vote moves from a powerful current to a mighty flood. As we see Labour the first major party in western europe to adopt an ecosocialist manifesto hope stirs and people wake up. Thousands begin to dare to hope. They grasp it's audacity and we see our master project their hate onto the manifesto. Yet we know that nearly 70% of people feel that corporations and capitalism hold none of the answers. Something dramatic is coming on the full moon.
I am so disappointed with my old party the Green Party for their centrist alliance with the Fib Dems. I regularly speak to Greens flowing to the Labour Party. As the NHS becomes the manor issue and Brexit receeds the criticism and claim of being to the left of Labour is shown wanting in their arrangement with the austerity loving Fib Dems.. oh what a falling off their was.



I am really surprised at the centrist concerns of Molly Scott Cato as it appears she too drifts to the soggy centre. I have long respected her for her scholarship and knowledge and am very surprised. I know the concerns of Graham Law and Jim Scott honorable radical and eco socialist greens about this direction. Come with us to an eco socialist future it's beginning now. As the dogs begin to bark we know that we are doing our job. They call us simple minded fools yet if it is simple minded to think that all people are worthy of a warm home and a fulfilling life then I am simple minded. If it is foolish to believe that we should spend money on the vulnerable and outcast then I am a simple minded fool . And I am delighted to take with us the millions of other simple minded fools who agree with our radical socialist manifesto. I hear the Tories desperate and afraid, I see Johnson run from debate, I hear the spite, anger and despair in the voice and tone of frightened Tories. A change is going to come....the commentators know, the Tories know and in the hearts of the poor and oppressed the audacity to hope begins.. while the hate of those who want us to know our place and our role is denied and projected onto us.. think of Churchill saying a Labour victory in 1945 would lead to a new Gestapo...there is nothing new under the sun for the desperation of our rulers ....it's time now



Thursday 21 November 2019

The faith of Socialism


I  am a 1970s socialist because of 2010s 'liberals" like Jo Swindleson and their austerity and policies of privatisation . I am a 1970s socialist because of New Labour and it's tinkering with capiralism They adjusted income but did nothing about the distribution of wealth. They promoted Public Finance Iniatives and fought a hideous war killing millions. I have always been a socialist from the 1970s because it was the only analysis that made sense and offered an alternative. I am a 1970s socialist because it was a criticism of the austerity and semi monetarism of the Callaghan years. I hold it up as a badge of honour because I want to solve the problem of those who work but do not own and those who own but do not work. I want people to own the place they work at and that they are the first responsibility of the business and not the shareholders. I am a 1970s socialist because the health service and education system is a service and not a business. I am a 1970s socialist because I support an education system that is about critical thinking and not about serving our corporate master. I am a 1970s socialist becaus I believe that we must sweep away the Public Schools, the House of Lords and the whole Honours system. I am a 1970s socialist because I want a written constitution and a citizens income. I am a 1970s socialist because I support the right of numerous ethnic, sexual and gender identities. I am a 1970s socialist because of your austerity Jo Swinson because while you are a woman you are not a sister. Your friends will call me misogynist because I criticise you. Yet you were the misogynist supporting welfare cuts, privatisation and the bedroom tax. It was your policies Jo Swinson that through austerity killed 120,000 people. That's misogyny Jo, robbing families of mothers, suppressing income and slashing services. I am a 1970s socialist because I have sat with the victims of your policies Jo Swinson in DWP offices and tribunals . And you have the fucking nerve to dismiss those like me on an equivalence scale with the old Etonians bully boys of the Bullingdon?.
I am a 1970s socialist because I don't believe that my attitude to Brexit is a litmus test of everything that matters. I am a 1970s socialist because I don't excuse homophobes and bigots because of ambition and of being remainers.

I am a 1970s socialist because I don't believe that someone like yourself who is a parody of the head prefect of a private school from a novel of the 1920s or 1930s. I am a 1970s socialist because I believe in self determinism of the people's of these islands. I do not look the other way Jo because I deny the Scottish people a second referendum but want to deny the reality of the UK European referendum of 2016.



I am a feminist and a peace maker and a supporter of the identity of all enabled to discover who they are and to be able set out on a journey of self discovery I am a 1970s socialist because I don't believe that moderation is a virtue and is rather a statistical average of unthinking and prejudice. There are no moderate positions when confronting fascism and racism, poverty and injustice. I am a 1970s socialist because of the Blairs, Swinsons and moderates that I meet.

Since 2008 the economic system gas been cracking and breaking . We have had years of Corporate Welfare with pay outs for the rest, we have bailed out the bankers and the plutocrats. I am a 1970s socialist because we can't go back to the way things were prior to 2008. The tragedy is that Jo and her friends don't even realise what has happened or indeed have the tools to analyse it. You don't even realise that your actions are what caused Brexit and the rejection of neoliberalism. So I raise the Red Banner and stand below it.. That's why I am a 1970s socialist...

And you Jo are simply a means by which the ruling class can keep on ruling. You are the means by which the structure of the existing system would be preserved. You are Jo with your party hooked into grandiosity and narcissism and you are completely unaware of reality.

When they tell you that Socialism is not possible and ask where it has ever worked..remind them of socialust ideas that have burst into fruit. Remind them of the NHS free state education and social housing. Remind them of tolerance care for the vulnerable and an approach that simply says we are social beings and that all things are measured by how we relate to others. Remind them that individualism is a myth, none of us live like Robinson Crusoe in splendid isolation. The socialist approach is predicated on being intradependent and aware of our community. The modern libertarian so often mistakes their narcissism for their individuality. They mistake their prejudices for their common sense. They fail to see how their collective experience of supposed indivuduality controls them from the attitudes they have to the clothes they wear. Virtually every one will place on their social media presence pictures of their house, their partner and the things they own. I have seen so many of them claim that Socialism has never worked and yet we have never heard them say what they feel or what hopes they have. They claim that society is a myth and that they simply bring up their family.. Yet they are blind to a system that makes them predictable and trite.



I often find that many of this grouping have poor self awareness, lack the capacity to doubt themselves and have great problems seeing how others experience society. They deny racism because they don't experience it. They deny sexism but do not see how their assumptions are sexist. It's a great shock and truly humbling experience to see your edges, your blind spots and your prejudices.
This week i have read two reports by a distinguished academic, diagnosing personality disorders in two young women. It occurred to me that perhaps it is society that has the personality disorder and that what we are seeing is a response to the society we live in. We are continually told how we must be, what we must look like and what we should think. Why is it that the mist vulnerable are so easily classified as having disorders? Why is that those classified as such are predominately female, of another ethnicity or faith? Those who classify such disorders are people of power, wealth and of another social class. Could we not ask why those who are more creative, more unsure of certainty and of simple answers are treated so? The term "Alienist" springs to mind and I remember how diversity and difference is more likely to create a whole society. Those who mock hope are the murderers and the abusers of those who seek difference. They fear a different society and they know so little history and ate the least creative.




William Morris, Oscar Wilde Virgina Wolffe...were the most troubled, the most imaginative and the most able to suggest that another world was possible. For someone to dream of difference means that they must be able to walk in another's shoes and to ask the question... What If? Some months ago I saw a meme that said simply " if you don't fit in fuck off". It sadly said all that was necessary. Oscar Wilde wrote of the soul of man under socialism and how it was the only way for us to truly become who we should be. Capitalism is the personality disorder that affects us all...it reduces us to the price mechanism and the commodity...it creates a matrix of conformity and control. Each crisis of capitalism has been greater than the last. It has not even worked since the crisis of 2008 and as we reach closer and closer to the next we realise that if automisation or robotics do not help us then humanity faces a future of barbarism.

Socialism is not a dream if we cannot reach it then unfetted growth and the exhaustion of materials will rest of us all. The question of achieving socialism is now a necessity not a dream. The narcissistic forces of the right threaten us all with destruction. Capitalism has never worked, it's a process not a system. Socialism is a system and it's growth has been a process of self awareness and perception. It is either Socialism or Barbarism and there is no alternative. Those who ask the question where has socialism ever worked would be better to ask where has capitalism ever worked? The centrists miss the point and the right has never seen the reality of capitalism. They hide within their mythical castles that gave never existed. As they say when you are neurotic you build castles in the air and when you are psychotic you move in. The narcissist have been living there for a long time. Socialism is the only therapy possible to build a sane, balanced and authentic sustainable society. Capitalism is the psychosis and it's adherents are hhose possessed by it's delusions. It's time to see the truth and understand the plague that affects us..

Wednesday 20 November 2019

Of rough hewn farmers, the soul of Swinson and the laughter of Tories at the poor...




Of rough hewn farmers, the soul of Swinson and the laughter of Tories at the poor...
I heard of the defence of a certain Powys Independent Councillor that he was a 'rough been farmer unused to the formalities of committees and formal meetings" as an excuse for slapping the bottom of a fellow female Councillor. It is no excuse, it us no defence. The reality is that he felt that it was what men do do women. It shows no reflection, no self analysis and above all an unthinking assumption of masculinity. These independents are by definition reactionary and unthinking yet they form an alliance with Tories tbst rule in Powys. In fact they are interchangeable with one another and unaware of cultural change. I watch Jo Swinson in all her Luciferian ambition and coldness of a Lizard use a simple word "Yes" to accept she would incinerate millions with the use of nuclear weapons and then pretend to have a policy to protect the environment. She cares for nothing but herself and gas on her conscience a new age of austetirity. Then I hear the laughter of gammon at the right of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The voice is harsh, discordant and mocking it says much and tells more. 



We are facing a cultural Ragnarok on December 12th. The farmer, the Swindleson and the laughter of gammon says why and why Corbyn must win. The culture wars come to a head on the full moon of December 12th. We are creating monsters and the uncaring and out of the sea of politics rises a woman free of conscience Ang fired by ambition. She reminds me of Jadis from the C.S Lewis book "The Magician's Nephew" or of Mrs Coulter from Pullman's Dark Matetials trilogy. Like Jadis she will use the deplorable word to kill millions and like Coulter play the system and maintain it for her own selfish concerns. The culture wars are but 22 days from the final event . The farmer, the soulessness of Swinson and the laughter of gammon says it all. Brexit Island is a stagnant fen. The progressives must win . Ragnarok is here and Bifrost is breaking as the giants of fear, hate and prejudice march towards battle. This is Winterfell as the night king rallies his undead hosts as a fusion of Circe Lannister, Jadis and Mrs Coulter leads the Fib Dems. In the game of thrones you either win or die and there is no middle ground. We have to win..

Tuesday 19 November 2019

Tuesday electoral thoughts.



Tuesday electoral thoughts...I sense almost subconsciously a faint bat squeak of fear almost imperceptively rise in intensity and cadence across sections of the establishment. The Telegraph on one hand talk of the Tory lead in the polls yet on the other warn want of the growing threat of the 'demons' of Momentum. The warning is clear as Corbyn looks like the Prime Minister and odd ripples run around even the CBI conference. The fear is palpable.

As the odd weighing of samples in opinion polls is exposed I notice in a couple the Labour vote creeps up to 32 or 33. I also notice in the same polls the Fib Dems fall back to 13 or less.
Locally and anecdotally local activists report good responses on the door steps. As the request for posters on stakes begin to go up through Ystradgynlais. This is very different to the August 1 Brecon and Radnor by election. The dramatic victory in St Mary's Ward last Thursday with a Labour gain from the Tories show the growing trend of the Labour campaign. And as I stare at the entrails and the runes of electoral calculus, as I calculate the correct weighing of samples from the 2017 I sense Labour draw level . Around the country the numbers of Labour activists grow in Chingford and Uxbridge. In Abercraf and Glanrhyd the Labour members and voters sense something half seen yet growing in intensity. And above it all the bst squeak of fear raising in intensity continues amongst the Tories. Then a sick feeling begins in the stomachs and the guts of our rulers as they remember that tonight a bumbling Etonian Bullingdon bully faces a debate with a calm polished and confident

Corbyn faces a debate that will reveal his true nature. As the Furies of his past surround Johnson from Accuri to his racist language. As the monarchy is revealed through its princelings in all its patriarchy and unthinking racism the ruling class in its ignorance is exposed. And then on Thursday we await the Labour transforming manifesto more powerful even than that of 1945. As more register daily and hourly to vote amongst those under the age of 35 we see that change is coming. The debate is coming and the Tory fear rises to screaming pitch worthy of the Nazgul..and there are still twenty three days to go. And as I write I hear Alistair Campbell a product of past history shift to the merits of the Prince Andrew interview as Campbell gives his advice to the Royal family without commenting on the sexism, patriarchy and casual racism of the institution of monarchy. Campbell who had been to Epstein flat in New York now finds himself desperate for relevance moves to the right by defending the power of English snobbery and of the touching of the cap. When sexual abuse is spun as conduct unbecoming and the fascism of normalcy is crafted by the likes of Campbell. Yep... change is coming and they are very afraid, very; very afraid. The sense the threat to their way of life and power 'yea even unto the middle ages" Change is coming and they know it ...as the paradigm shifts and buckles...

Monday 18 November 2019

Lies, damned lies and statistics...it's in the weight....


Yesterday it began to appear that the weighing of samples in opinion polls had undergone certain manipulations.. I am somewhat of an anorak for statistics despite my post modern attitudes and qualitative approach. I note that the wieghing of the age groups within a sample has undergone some odd assumptions. Many of the opinion polls have assumed that the turnout for this election will be 10% lower than last time at 59%. They also reduce the proportion of the 18 to 24 age groups by over a quarter and the 24 to 35 group by a proportion of a third and assume that over 90% of the 64+ age group. This seems like a boring anal obsession with statistics but when reflected on it leads to an over estimate of Tory and Fib Dem voters and an underestimate for Labour ones. The assumptions made by our opinion pollsters have assumptions on turnout that have not been experienced for over 50 years since the election of 1964. Many of these "scientific polls" seem to have forgotten the rise of social media. It also seems odd they "forget" the facts that there has been a dramatic rise in the under 30s registering to vote outnumbering the over 60s fivefold. In Uxbridge alone this weekend the #fckboris campsogn registered over 2000 people over the weekend. There is of course nearly a week to go till electoral registration closes so I expect the trend to continue. It's always been my belief that statistics and the models used are reflections of prejudices and assumptions based upon the models we use. They are also a reflection of propaganda and the political discourse of those who are and have a self interest in aTory victory. What was it Marx said about the superstructure? That representation of "facts" are everythiny in persuasion. I notice that Aaron Bastani has too picked up on this point. When you weigh the raw data on the basis of 2017 you find that the Tory lead falls to 4%. I also notice that Survation polling that that is far more aware if these facts shows a significantly smaller Tory lead....odd that.. in the pics below you can see the comparisons of weighting of samples and the application of a realistic model...don't be fooled they are terrified of

Friday 15 November 2019

Labour wins St Mary's Ward by election in Brecon


Labour wins St Mary's Ward by election last night by a majority of 100. Last night Labour stormed to victory making Brecon a Tory free zone. The Fib Dems were relegated to a distant fourth place behind Plaid. The full result was Labour 344 Tory 244 Plaid 130 Lib Dem 102 ind 100. Last December a Town Council by election Labour took two seats from the Tories and Fib Dems with majorities of 40 and 9. Last night's majority represents a swing to Labour and an increased turnout from last year. There are now 8 Labour Councillors on Powys County Council and we have now a perfect gender balance in the Labour team. It's a wonderful shot in the arm to Tom Davies and the Labour team in Brecon and Radnor for the general election of December 12th. Labour now has all three county council seats in Brecon and 10 out of the 15 seats on Brecon Town Council. On to the General Election..

Thursday 14 November 2019

" The Corbyn, the Swindleson and the election"


There are 28 days to go. The roads are icy in Ystradgynlais as the full moon shines down on the Glanrhyd bus stop. The ice queen Swindleson immune to her actions on austerity finds her sledge surrounded by the victims of her foul magic. As the hours tick down till the close of nominations at four the ice queen"s campaign finds itself with the wheels falling off. The decent radical lib dems once part of her entourage hear the sounds of hope and the glow of socialism. As the snow of austerity melts and a deep longing begins amongst the poor oppressed and outcast change begins. Many still under the influence if the ice queen and her ally the wolf in sheep's clothes the Boris beast plans to replace her once the next full Moon is here. Coming soon a new film " The Corbyn, the Swindleson and the election" watch the ego, the ambition and the drama. Watch Swindleson scheme, watch Boris hide his ambition and see the liberation begin. A film about those who are ambitious as Lucifer and as cold as a Lizard. Not to be missed ...enjoy #CorbynbyChristmas.

On Winter under late Capitalism.



On Winter under late Capitalism...the worst of all deals...And now its just short of four weeks count down to Christmas. The power of capitalism has imposed the markets fantasy black Friday upon us and on through and beyond cyber Monday to New Years day... we experience the psychological, economic and ersatz pressure of its chimera. On the Mexican border tear gas is brought out and used. In Washington a migrant woman walks through glittering Christmas trees and decorations She married a billionaire that was her route in to the American dream. And as her husband does May's deal to death we stumble to an unknown future. As Advent draws neear  and Brexit becomes unknowable ..Tories of the hard Brexit psychosis demand an early Christmas as a means to complete the Thatcherite revolution.

As Cyber Monday p approaches therapists prepare themselves for the rush in or the rush out of love. Those alone or without support dread the enforced family discourse of Christmas. The truth that only a quarter of us now live in a 'Janet and John' type family and that well over one fifth live alone is denied, obscured and ignored. The political right moan of the decline of the family is denied and yet it is their very policies on benefits and employment that makes family living more difficult.
The Christmas music has been playing in the pound shop for two weeks now and the pay day lenders are in full swing.

The Winter S was a time of celebration it strengthened us for the long climb into Spring. The Romans had Saturnalia so I wonder what else can we do at the the of the dark? What else? but celebrate and feast and enjoy ourselves. I am the old Pagan who sees this more clearly as each Christmas comes. I am 60 but I have seen there is still the inner child that loves shortbread; dates , Christmas pudding and the promise of snow.

Yet the adult within me knows that the children of light born at Christmas may well be slaughtered by Easter and left hanging on Ygsdrasil, upon the cross under the bodhi tree or on the streets of Syrian cities or in Yemen.. and yet.the Christmas we celebrate is often an inner psychological one. For those who grew up experiencing domestic violence and abuse ..Christmas is not magical.. nor can it ever be. A saviour most apt for this time would be one who frreed us from all saviours.. all things decay work out your own salvation and with it Christmas. For me it will always be Yule..and the child of light from the old Celtic Faith must be our own inner child born to a world where each and everyone is responsible for the world we live in and for those we love.

. These are the absurdities of the Advent season . ..Camus and Sisyphus smile at us from the other side and the X50 crawls towards Swansea the fog is dense and we are all obscure or is it obscured?

Wednesday 13 November 2019

"Happens To The Heart"




"Happens To The Heart"


I was always working steady
But I never called it art
I got my shit together
Meeting Christ and reading Marx
It failed my little fire
But it's bright the dying spark
Go tell the young messiah
What happens to the heart

There's a mist of summer kisses
Where I tried to double-park
The rivalry was vicious
The women were in charge
It was nothing, it was business
But it left an ugly mark
I've come here to revisit
What happens to the heart

I was selling holy trinkets
I was dressing kind of sharp
Had a pussy in the kitchen
And a panther in the yard

In the prison of the gifted
I was friendly with the guards
So I never had to witness
What happens to the heart

I should have seen it coming
After all I knew the chart
Just to look at her was trouble
It was trouble from the start
Sure we played a stunning couple
But I never liked the part
It ain't pretty, it ain't subtle
What happens to the heart

Now the angel's got a fiddle
The devil's got a harp
Every soul is like a minnow
Every mind is like a shark
I've broken every window
But the house, the house is dark
I care but very little
What happens to the heart

Then I studied with this beggar
He was filthy, he was scarred
By the claws of many women
He had failed to disregard
No fable here no lesson
No singing meadowlark
Just a filthy beggar guessing
What happens to the heart

I was always working steady
But I never called it art
It was just some old convention
Like the horse before the cart
I had no trouble betting
On the flood, against the ark
You see, I knew about the ending
What happens to the heart

I was handy with a rifle
My father's .303
I fought for something final
Not the right to disagree 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday political thoughts under a full moon

And so four weeks tomorrow under a full Moon the election will be decided. The drama builds, the social media war intensifies and the campaign intensifies. The polls show a rise in Labour support as the polls narrow and the Fib Dems flat line around 15%. The Tory vote slips downwards slowly towards the mid thirties. In Canterbury Jo Swinson tbrowws a temper tantrum. Aaron Banks tells Farage to withdraw Brexit Party candidates in Labour Tory marginal and gives him 48 hours to save Brexit and stop Corbyn.

It always was like this. Every body knows that it was always the role of Farage to convince the white male working class patriots to be hypnotized into cutting their own throats, slashing the NHS and slashing public services to the bone. Farage is a cover for the aims of the hedge fund leavers longing to increase their money stash and to do over those hypnotized pied piper like into their own demise. We still stand on the edge of 1931 but the potential is there for 1945. The result lays with us all. Kristallnacht lurks in the cold November weather Dare we face the fear of freedom? Or do we listen to our masters? It's still 1931 or 1945...the choice is yours.. dare we take it...let's see. Lanour launches it's fully costed manifesto on Saturday..do we have the courage to embrace it? Dare we? Or will we flee to the comfortable numbness of mindless conservatism or the bland statistical anodyne emptiness of the neo liberal iliberal Fib Dems? It takes courage to face change. I stand in Winterfell and brandish my Valarian Android waiting for the army of the Right King and his undead. Am I John Snow? Let us see...Winter is coming.....and it all depends on the Corbyn Johnson debates on November 19th and December 6th.

Tuesday 12 November 2019

St Mary`s by election Brecon Thursday November 14th


The St Mary's ward by election occurs on Thursday November 14th.. This Powys ward that comprises much of Brecon offers the chance to make Brecon Tory free zone. The other two wards of Brecon are both held by Labour and out of the five town Town Councillors of the St Mary's ward four are Labour Last December the Labour Party took two seats from the Tories and the Liberal Democrats in a double by election. One of whom is the excellent Tom Davies the only Welsh speaking socialist standing for Brecon and Radnor in the general election As it is Labour hold ten of the fifteen seats on Brecon Town Council. Last December the Labour Party gained 288 votes to the Tories 240 odd votes. The Liberal Democrats and Plaid were distant also rans with about 100 votes each. The Liberals and Plaid cannot win the ward so we are asking them to ensure the Tories are defeated on Thursday . The Labour candidate is Liz Rijnenberg a sitting Brecon Town Councillor who won an amazing by election some time ago from the Tories. This is a crucial by election that is a two horse race between the Tories and Labour. A Labour victory on Thursday would add to the determined Labour opposition to the Tory-independent coalition that rules Powys. It is this coalition that has cut our services locally and dramatically. Only Labour can offer real opposition to them. In votes around the budget in April it was indeed interesting to note that the two sitting Plaid councillors initially voted against the budget whilst on the second vote they abstained. It was indeed interesting to find that shortly after certain promotions occurred. If these events are connected in any way I leave to you to decide. I can't possibly comment if they are. 



If you can help the Labour election campaign please contact me as Councillor David Thomas us taking a group up from Ystradgynlais on Thursday. If you would like a lift contact either my self or David. Remember it's a two horse race and the Liberal Democrats and Plaid can't win in St Mary's. It's either Labour or the Tories just like it can only be Johnson or Corbyn for Prime Minister . So please lend us your vote in St Mary's and keep on voting Labour.

Monday 11 November 2019

'It’ll Go Higher?'


Morning all, Aaron Bastani here with the first ever 'It’ll Go Higher?', a weekly newsletter where I cast a sociological side-eye on predictions, polls and punditry between now and election day. You’ll hear plenty of hot takes on what the polling apparently means between now and 12 December, but this newsletter aims to dig a little deeper, get beneath the surface and isolate trends ahead of time.

"But are polls even worth engaging with?" I hear you silently cry.

Yes and no, because despite claims that all the pollsters called the last general election wrong, that isn’t entirely true. YouGov adopted a system based on predictive modelling (a technique used extensively by Barack Obama but which the Observer thinks is as Russian as Chekhov) and massive amounts of data (50,000 respondents a time). That allowed them to predict a hung parliament…until they changed their system from MRP because they didn’t want to stand out from the crowd (showing that even pollsters can exhibit ‘bandwagoning bias’). Survation had a bit more backbone, however, and, sticking with the same methodology throughout the campaign, they called the final results almost perfectly - putting Labour on 40% and the Tories on 41% the day before the vote. In the final weeks of campaigning I said Survation were the most likely pollster to be accurate. Unlike Dan Hodges I was right.
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Labour edgding...higher?

It’s important to emphasise that at this early stage the polls being published are less ‘robust’ than those available in the final weeks of 2017. Polling conducted by Deltapoll and Opinium over the weekend, both of which showed Labour inching up but remaining significantly behind the Tories, had smaller samples with people responding online (which is generally viewed as weaker data than that collected face-to-face and over the telephone). Nevertheless, with 1500 and 2000 respondents respectively, their findings on headline voting intention should be taken seriously.

Importantly, when you put their findings into broader context, especially compared to Labour’s support around the time of May’s European elections, deeper trends become conspicuous. There is no doubt Labour have significantly stabilised in the last few months: Opinium claim that 66% of Labour leavers now intend to vote for the party, up nine points from last week; while 48% of Labour remainers plan on voting Labour – up 10 points. While still nowhere enough to form a government, that is welcome. And the parties suffering as a result? The Brexit party and Liberal Democrats.

Until as recently as September, Opinium had Labour behind the Brexit party among leave voters and trailing the Lib Dems among remainers. Having edged ahead of both, only surpassing the former last week, they have done something of vital importance in the first week of campaigning: consolidated their base on both sides of the Brexit debate - no mean feat and a testament to the party’s post-conference position on a second referendum.
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Jo Swinson is REALLY unpopular.


Despite only being leader of her party since June, Jo Swinson is surprisingly unpopular. Like, really unpopular.

Opinium has her behind Jeremy Corbyn on a bunch of absurd, but perhaps insightful, questions such as “Who would you rather take part in Celebrity Gogglebox with?” Corbyn also does better than Nigel Farage on most of these questions, although he’s some way behind Boris Johnson. Yet even this is somewhat surprising. After all, Corbyn and Farage have well-established political brands and are undoubtedly polarising figures. And yet both are generally viewed as more affable than Swinson, a person whose whole schtick is being an agreeable ‘moderate’. To put it bluntly, since she’s become leader the public has rapidly decided what they think of her - and it ain’t good. That could a major problem for the Liberal Democrats who now seem intent on building their campaign around the East Dunbartonshire MP.


Less apparent, but also of interest, is how Nigel Farage has seen his approval ratings suffer of late. Only 37% of leave voters approve of Mr Toad compared to 50% a month ago. It’s likely that his decision to not stand as a candidate in the forthcoming election is a major reason why - something raised while he campaigned in Wales last week. Between Labour’s ground campaign and Boris’s Brexit belligerence, it is increasingly difficult to see how the Brexit party can win any seats. Of course it’s early days - but one suspects Farage knows this and doesn’t want to be personally humiliated come election day.

The Remain ‘Alliance’ Ain’t Working


While Labour edges up, the opposite is happening to the Lib Dems, Greens and Plaid Cymru (the last of which Deltapoll puts on 0%). Of particular interest is how Swinson’s party is failing to pick up many ‘soft Tories’ - the people who may have voted Lib Dem in 2010 but powered David Cameron to a majority five years later.

Attracting these individuals is at the heart of Swinson’s rationale in attacking Labour so relentlessly. Last weekend’s findings indicate that, after a fruitful six months, this is no longer working. According to Opinium, 54% of those who voted Conservative in 2017 and favour remain are sticking with Boris Johnson. That’s the kind of figure that could decide the next election, and is generally being neglected by the media.

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So one week in, here’s what we know:
  • Labour is stabilising at the cost of smaller parties, while the Tories - predictably - pick up the lion’s share of the leave vote from a flailing Brexit party.
  • Intriguingly, the public dislikes Farage and Swinson as much, if not more, than Jeremy Corbyn, and despite the media’s often-contrarian reporting it’s almost certain the big two will see their vote share continue to grow at the expense of the others over the next few weeks
  • Meanwhile, the early signs of the Lib Dem-Green-Plaid pact is that all are suffering as a result.