The state of the UK

[Brian Peacock]

How can you make it worse? Democracy is like being pregnant. You cant be half pregnant. You have democracy or you dont. I suppose you can have phantom pregnancy.

I suggested you were saying that there's no point in not making UK democracy any worse. Justice Kerr warns that the state of democracy is precarious and that the government are seeking to undermine judicial oversight of their actions -- the context here is the government's recent practice of drafting Bills which exempt them from their legal obligation not to act unlawfully -- and you think that such a warning is pointless because... he's a toff who knows how to use a fish knife?

[JimC]

How can you make it worse? Democracy is like being pregnant. You cant be half pregnant. You have democracy or you dont. I suppose you can have phantom pregnancy.

I suggested you were saying that there's no point in not making UK democracy any worse. Justice Kerr warns that the state of democracy is precarious and that the government are seeking to undermine judicial oversight of their actions -- the context here is the government's recent practice of drafting Bills which exempt them from their legal obligation not to act unlawfully -- and you think that such a warning is pointless because... he's a toff who knows how to use a fish knife?

I'm sure that Scot meant that every aspect of life, politics, the economy and society in the UK is so utterly abysmal that it is simply impossible for it to get any worse...

Sorry, Brian, but you're completely and utterly fucked - the expert from the nether regions hath spoken...

[laklak]

he's a toff who knows how to use a fish knife?

I use my Bowie for both guttin and eatin. Saves washin up.

[Brian Peacock]

... Sorry, Brian, but you're completely and utterly fucked ...

As are we all under under Capitalism!

Scott's mistake is to assume that I'm motivated towards the kind of reflexive and absolute defence of my country of residence that he reserves for his own nation.

[rainbow]

[Scot Dutchy]

Wrong thread. Bound to be expected of course.

[laklak]

Not everything is horrible about the UK. There's the weather, well, not that. OK the pubs. Ah, they're fucking closed. I got it - the NHS! Wait, it's bankrupt.

Gregg's sausage rolls and late night Doner Kebabs. Ha! Beat that.

[rainbow]

Not everything is horrible about the UK. There's the weather, well, not that. OK the pubs. Ah, they're fucking closed. I got it - the NHS! Wait, it's bankrupt.

Gregg's sausage rolls and late night Doner Kebabs. Ha! Beat that.

Now that White Lightning is no longer available, I don't really see the point of going there.

[laklak]

I feel the same way, except it's because my father-in-law moved there. Unfortunately he's moving back to South Africa.

[Brian Peacock]

[Brian Peacock]

When Corbyn was elected I spoke against him here ratskep and the Guardian. I was crucified. Corbyn was going to save the Labour Party. He had so many new members at three quid a throw. What happened? He could not change. He was the shop steward. The man of the (smokey) back rooms. Now he is an antisemitic. A lot of Labour Party Kool-Aid was drunk. All the fucking crap from his so called left wing organisations. Now what is left in the UK? Some talking parrot. They have the shitiest government to oppose and what do they do FA! Now they have a laughing boy who is a wet weak in a thunder storm.

Labour in turmoil as Corbyn's allies call for suspension to be lifted

Supporters of ex-leader rally behind him to fight disciplinary action over his response to antisemitism report

Labour was plunged into turmoil after the party suspended Keir Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, in the wake of a damning report into antisemitism that found the party responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.

The decision to suspend Corbyn for saying the problem of antisemitism within Labour was “dramatically overstated for political reasons” by opponents and the media sent shockwaves through the party and led to rumours of a split.

What if the problem of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party has been dramatically overstated for political reasons? What light might that shed on the situation?

[rainbow]

I feel the same way, except it's because my father-in-law moved there. Unfortunately he's moving back to South Africa.

Is he a Boetjie from Brakpan?

[Scot Dutchy]

Corbyn still being the same useless cunt but of course it has been blown out of all proportion.

An end to Labour's antisemitism controversy seems as far away as ever

The EHRC’s measured tone contrasted with Starmer’s dramatic suspension of Corbyn. Neither will bring resolution

Keir Starmer’s unexpected decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour party was in stark contrast to the cool and measured tone of the long-awaited Equality and Human Rights Commission report into antisemitism in Labour, which carefully avoided the attribution of personal responsibility. One of the defining features of the Labour antisemitism controversy has been the intense passions it generates. Amid this maelstrom, the EHRC intervened with the technical language of law and institutional process. Starmer has responded with a disciplinary action that will, at least in the short run, inflame this bitter dispute.

Nevertheless, that coolness of tone does not take away from the force of the report. The fact that a party that regards anti-racism as central to its self-definition – particularly during the Corbyn years – has been investigated for racism is shocking in and of itself. It is devastating that the Labour party was found to have breached the Equality Act – both through harassment committed by its “agents” and “indirect discrimination”, in the form of political interference in complaints procedures, unclear and chaotic institutional responses and inadequate training.

Even before Starmer’s move to suspend Corbyn, it was already obvious that the EHRC findings were not going to be the last word on this subject. Those who defend the legacy of the Corbyn years will seize upon the lack of direct condemnation of Corbyn himself, and the fact that only two individuals (one of them Ken Livingstone, who left the party under threat of expulsion) are directly accused of unlawful harassment. That means that defenders of Corbyn can argue that Starmer’s decision was an overreaction.

Conversely, among those who opposed Corbyn, the finding that the party has acted unlawfully is likely to be mischaracterised by some as a top-to-bottom condemnation. There will be others who are disappointed that the party was not found to be “institutionally racist” – and that there was no demand for action against Corbyn.

The scope of the EHRC’s investigation was, in fact, tightly constrained, as are the remedies it has the power to enforce. And it is this restraint that will be manipulated and selectively interpreted in the firestorm of responses to the report. Even if the party complies with the EHRC’s requirements in the fullest, speediest and most exemplary manner the report will nevertheless feed into and exacerbate pre-existing conflicts within the party, the British Jewish population and the wider public.

[laklak]

I feel the same way, except it's because my father-in-law moved there. Unfortunately he's moving back to South Africa.

Is he a Boetjie from Brakpan?

A rooinek saltpil.

[JimC]

With the anti-semitic thing, how much of it was a by-product of the fairly standard left-wing anti-Zionist and pro Palestinian stance?