The Chairman Mao resembling, Monarchy hating, threat to Britain, Labour Party thread

[tonyh29]

9 minutes ago, PompeyVillan said:

Apparently Jeremy Corbyn is making an appearance at Glastonbury tomorrow.

I wonder what reception he'll get?

A chorus of 'Ohh Jeremy Corbyn', I should imagine. 

I'd freakin' love to see Theresa May address a Glastonbury crowd, or any crowd actually. 

Probably the same sort of reception Corbyn would get at Henley , just with a bit more class

 

[NurembergVillan]

1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

Probably the same sort of reception Corbyn would get at Henley , just with a bit more class

 

:) You knew it was coming!

Quote

The Henley Royal Regatta is a five-day-long rowing event held in the mostly inert town of Henley-on-Thames. Having known nothing of the Royal Regatta, and going on its aristocratic name alone, I thought it would be a hyper-exclusive event attended only by minor royals, Clare Balding, canapes and people who'd be dead by now if they didn't have so much money. Henley is a town that probably has more blue plaques than police officers, a town that creates Olympic champions rather than suffers Olympic legacies. Boris Johnson used to be the local MP and Richard Curtis has a holiday home here, for ****'s sake – can you imagine anywhere more sedate than the place where the man who wrote Love Actually goes to relax?

 

[snowychap]

I'll pop this in here (I guess it could have gone in a few threads):

Quote

Secret Teacher: my school is an echo-chamber for leftwing views

I teach in a mixed comprehensive in a constituency where on 8 June over two-thirds voted Labour, where an overwhelming majority voted Labour in the most recent mayoral vote, and where Labour has been the largest party on the local council for decades. A large majority of staff at our school vote Labour.

As a Labour supporter, this thrills me; as a teacher, it makes me question whether my school is doing enough to help our students appreciate other viewpoints.

As teachers, we are bound by the 1996 Education Act to present different political beliefs impartially and to not promote partisan political views. Yet, probably unintentionally, my school is often an echo-chamber for the leftwing views of its staff and its students’ parents.

Views that fall outside the accepted liberal-left spectrum get short shrift in my staffroom. I have watched teachers react incredulously – almost to the point of tears – when colleagues have tried floating a reasonable case for Brexit. This would be harmless enough if it did not put in doubt their ability empathise with views opposed to their own.

Unfortunately, I see that lack of empathy in the classroom. It worries me that few of my colleagues seem to understand why Conservatives think as they do. In lessons discussing the general election, I have seen teachers make half-hearted attempts to present a rightwing line of reasoning about the major issues. Their bored or frustrated tone of voice says it all.

In theory students are introduced to a range of ideologies through studying government and politics. But I have only heard Labour politicians being criticised by fellow teachers for being too rightwing. We have had assemblies celebrating feminists and the campaign for a living wage, which are excellent and informative, but with no attention given to right-of-centre subjects (none that weren’t heavily critical, anyway).

The latter were balanced presentations insofar as they covered arguments on both sides, although dissenting views were always delivered under an arched eyebrow. Perhaps this is unavoidable. After all, I do not think it is unreasonable for teachers to share their political views, provided they make caveats about these being personal views. In its guidance to schools, Ted Huddleston of the Citizenship Foundation warned that “it does young people no favours to shield them from views they are likely to encounter in society”.

In schools like mine, however, where students are already immersed in political uniformity, we do them no favours by merely presenting different views. What we should do is offer compelling counter-narratives, so that students can appreciate why people might reasonably hold different political views from their own, regardless of differences in background.

Teachers at my school didn’t tell students to vote Labour on 8 June – they are just as nervous about being overly partisan as many others in the profession. But by shaping our students’ climate of political opinion, my colleagues implicitly define what students come to regard as reasonable and acceptable political views.

It often seems like few other authority figures in my students’ lives are preparing them for life outside their Labour bubble, where, for example, austerity is not automatically a term of abuse, and welfare not always accepted as a good thing. The net effect is to restrict their intellectual curiosity about, and ability to empathise with, others of different political persuasions.

I see evidence for this every week when I hear otherwise bright and articulate students justify their political opinions with vague, lazy arguments. As John Stuart Mill foresaw, since they have never learned to defend value judgments that seem entirely natural to them, they will struggle to respond to their opponents beyond the school gates.

This is about more than education. With our politics increasingly polarised, it saddens me to see my students being initiated – deliberately or not – into an essentially Manichaean view of politics, with a checklist of “goodies” (leftists, trade unions, Corbyn) and “baddies” (Tories, Brexiteers, anyone who uses the phrase British values without irony).

Given this, don’t my colleagues and I have a responsibility to do more than offer, in the words of the Education Act, “a balanced presentation of opposing views” – which in practice is often just paying lip service? Ought we not to make a habit of playing devil’s advocate?

Only an active commitment on the part of all teachers to resisting the status quo in our students’ lives – whatever that might be – will prepare them for meaningful political participation. This involves making the effort to articulate an intellectually rigorous and persuasive case for political views far removed from ours – and from theirs.

Teaching active empathy with different political views than our own might require more time and work on our part but it would better prepare students to be able to reach across political divides in later life. Surely we could use some of that right now.

 

[mjmooney]

In my first year at grammar school (1965) we had a mock election. I was randomly chosen to be the Tory candidate, and had to put their case at the hustings. 

I was delighted when I lost. 

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

In my first year at grammar school (1965) we had a mock election. I was randomly chosen to be the Tory candidate, and had to put their case at the hustings. 

I was delighted when I lost. 

You were politically aware at  the age of 10/11 ?

 

[MakemineVanilla]

9 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

You were politically aware at  the age of 10/11 ?

 

Back then it was generally the thing that people voted the same way as their parent(s), and the nation was sharply divided along class lines, with the Liberals getting only a handful of seats.

Women tended to vote Tory.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2017 by MakemineVanilla

[Demitri_C]

Does anyone think they will vote in favour of scrapping the 1% cap? Be a major victory for Corbin. But II can't see it myself

Edited June 28, 2017 by Demitri_C

[markavfc40]

11 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Does anyone think they will vote in favour of scrapping the 1% cap? Be a major victory for Corbin. But II can't see it myself

It was defeated by 323 to 309. In fairness it is a little too early for the Tory rebels to stab May in the front. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by markavfc40

[PompeyVillan]

It's a case of Labour being able to say 'Look, they're still pushing austerity'. 

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

It was defeated by 323 to 309. In fairness it is a little too early for the Tory rebels to stab May in the front. 

I suspect the Tories will scrap it a bit later and then try to get all the credit for doing so. 

[bickster]

29 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I suspect the Tories will scrap it a bit later and then try to get all the credit for doing so. 

They'll fail in that because Labour will just say it's another U turn and they are implementing Labour policy. People will also remember they cheered when voting against it

[Demitri_C]

2 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

It was defeated by 323 to 309. In fairness it is a little too early for the Tory rebels to stab May in the front. 

A lot closer than I thought then, conservatives should definitely scrap this if they want to make themselves popular with voters. Clowns.

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, PompeyVillan said:

It's a case of Labour being able to say 'Look, they're still pushing austerity'. 

Which questions the motive of putting it out there in the first place I guess ... but the critiscism we've had of late is that the opposition weren't making the government accountable enough so perhaps it's a step in the right direction in regards to our parliament 

[PompeyVillan]

7 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Which questions the motive of putting it out there in the first place I guess ... but the critiscism we've had of late is that the opposition weren't making the government accountable enough so perhaps it's a step in the right direction in regards to our parliament 

There's a lot that goes on that's just posturing. 

Labour didn't expect any Conservative MPs to rebel this early. It'll happen in time.

[PompeyVillan]

Looks like some Labour MPs can't help themselves but rebel against Corbyn. 4 more front benchers gone. 

Jesus wept. Just back the man for goodness sake, give him a chance. He's earned it.

I'm all for a coalition of views within the party but there needs to be unity. 

[markavfc40]

17 minutes ago, PompeyVillan said:

Looks like some Labour MPs can't help themselves but rebel against Corbyn. 4 more front benchers gone. 

Jesus wept. Just back the man for goodness sake, give him a chance. He's earned it.

I'm all for a coalition of views within the party but there needs to be unity. 

Silly especially on an amendment that was never going to be backed and despite 51 Labour MP's defying the whip was still defeated by over 220 votes. It was a pointless amendment as well around staying in the single market something Ummuna knows can't happen without free movement and the Government aren't going to agree to that.

It shows that Corbyn feels a lot more confident and secure after the election though as when pro European shadow ministers rebelled over article 50 he didn't flex his muscles like this.

Edited June 29, 2017 by markavfc40

[Chindie]

I hope at some point we get over free movement and realise the single market is really important.

[tonyh29]

Is there still time for Ummuna to defect to the Libs and run for leader ?

[markavfc40]

12 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Is there still time for Ummuna to defect to the Libs and run for leader ?

I like him and think he conveys himself well and is wasted on the back benches/select committees. This amendment was a waste of time though and was only going to show a split in Labour ranks at a time when they were for the first time in a long time at least appearing to be united.

In fairness though both major parties are divided on Brexit.

Edited June 29, 2017 by markavfc40

[Demitri_C]

Back to square one then, Labour Party falls apart right when they were getting their act together