a m ole Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 14 hours ago, peterms said: This raises the question of where one should direct complaints of racism in respect of the new grouping. I suspect the answer is "there is no channel for dealing with this". I wonder if they are keeping stats on the number of complaints of racism made against their number, the proportion of their group against whom complaints have been made, the outcome of investigations, and the sanctions levied against them. I rather suspect they won't be bothering with any of that stuff. Won’t she just retweet her resignation statement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desensitized43 Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 28 minutes ago, blandy said: I think that other tube, George Galloway is also on his way back in to Labour, isn't he? Probably. When you're constantly being painted as the party that trashes the economy and you do mental things like this to prove them right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 13 minutes ago, a m ole said: Won’t she just retweet her resignation statement? And resign from the Independence Group? So she'd be sitting as an independent rather than an Independent...? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 19, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2019 Here's an example of the kind of stuff regularly chucked at Luciana Berger by verifiable members of her own CLP The person sending the tweet is last years Liverpool Lord Mayor and still a current councillor, who has been exposing some of the comments for a long time. Yes I know this is the Jewish Chronical and I do have some sympathy for the animosity towards Labour Friends of Israel but the remark itself crosses the line of acceptability by some huge distance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Yes, that's way over the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 She was tired, but was she emotional? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted February 19, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 19, 2019 If you can't be racially insensitive when you're very very tired, when can you be really? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted February 19, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2019 James Felton in the Graun, on it. Quote ....The government that promised Brexit would improve our lives now count it as a major success that they’ve stockpiled enough body bags for everyone. Car manufacturers are fleeing the country faster than a billionaire Brexiteer in pursuit of a tax break, and in the event of no deal, fresh food might become more scarce than accuracy in a Daniel Kawczynski tweet. At this point the main thing we’ll be using our blue passports for is to go visit tomatoes or jobs. Right now we need the heroes more than ever to fight the bad guys, which is why Labour have chosen this very moment to land a killing blow on the Tories start vigorously punching themselves in the testicles. It’s as if, at the end of Avengers Endgame just when it looks like all hope is lost and Thanos can’t be defeated, Iron Man swoops in at the last second and starts twatting Thor. The press conference announcing the new party started off OK, if you ignore the sound of a reporter muttering “between this and Brexit we’re actually ****” off mic. But let’s face it, at this stage most people would have a hard time noticing the words “we’re actually ****” wasn’t their own internal monologue. Angela Smith, one of the seven “splitters” gave a speech in which she said that she didn’t think any of the major political parties were fit for power and cited antisemitic racism as one of the reasons she left Labour. It was good. Luciana Berger also made a solid, heartfelt speech. Things were back on track. Now what the new non-racist party in town needs is celebrity endorsements, which they soon got when Katie Hopkins briefly stopped frothing at the mouth in order to praise Chuka Umunna. “So far so good,” they probably thought to themselves. “As long as nobody goes on national TV and does a racism then everything is fine. Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no, no.” Because just two hours after launching the new non-racist political grouping, Angela Smith, one seventh of everyone’s new favourite non-racist political grouping, went on live TV and appeared to refer to people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds as having a “funny tinge”. I know you think it’s bad, but look at it this way: after one morning they’d already chalked up their first racism scandal – just like a real mainstream party. Angela even apologised for “any offence caused” rather than the remark itself: proper, statesmanlike, frontbench stuff. It wasn’t long before the smears began emanating from outside of the group, too. Corbyn-supporting Skwawkbox, well known for crying “conspiracy” when there isn’t one, surprised everybody by yelling “conspiracy” when there wasn’t one. They did some digging and found that the “new” website was actually registered in 2015. A “fact” they discovered by misreading the date. The day almost over, the new party’s MPs responded to calls from Labour’s John McDonnell to stand for re-election in their constituencies by refusing to do so. “They said we wouldn’t be a major force in British politics,” they probably thought to themselves. “But here we are on day one and we’ve got a racism scandal under our belt and have already ruled out a people’s vote. Just like the big boys.” Nor did the Independent Group rule out MPs accused of sexual harassment being allowed to join. Less than 12 hours after launch, then, and they’ve already made it clear they’re an incompetent bunch of catastrophes that most of the population would feel extremely conflicted about voting for. In other words, they bear all the hallmarks of a mainstream political movement – in their own terms, at least, a resounding success. As far as political launches go, my only major concern is that they may have peaked too soon. Or that the fear of being seen as institutionally racist will mean it’s only a matter of time until the splitters split. On the other hand, it has been a tough few days for anyone who is vaguely interested in the prospect of not having a sociopathic group of Tories rule the country until the end of time itself. To cap it all, like a toddler who craps its pants to distract from the fact it has wet itself, the Labour party chose this moment to let it slip that Derek Hatton is back in the party. People on the left are now spoilt for choice. We can either vote for a party beset by accusations of racism who look like they won’t get into power (you Corbyn cultist!) or a party beset by racism accusations who definitely won’t get in power (you Blairite melt!). Meanwhile the Tories probably spent the day stockpiling something sinister like orphanages or double-decker coffins. We were too busy watching the only viable alternative attacking the real enemy – fellow lefties. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 A comment on Angela Smith attributing her tinged remarks to being very, very tired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post chrisp65 Posted February 19, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted February 19, 2019 'In 40 years in the Labour Party I've never known us more united' Chris Williamson MP, on Newsnight just a few moments ago. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Ian Austin appears to be mulling quitting the party, which poses an interesting dilemma if he wants to join this group, since he's a Leaver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Petulant, kneejerk stuff from the Labour leadership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 20, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2019 I have now moved a number of posts from this topic to the new dedicated topic for the gang of 8 Please use this topic from now on to discuss anything about them. Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 20, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2019 1 hour ago, snowychap said: Petulant, kneejerk stuff from the Labour leadership. Wouldn't that require the recognition of parties beyond it's current scope and therefore disadvantage independent candidates further than they already are. It would also mean a fundamental change in election laws.This would appear to be opening Pandora's box tbh. I suspect if they ever miraculously get into power, this one will be quietly forgotten especially as any MP that may want to join Labour not leave would be similarly disadvantaged and probably wouldn't bother. This has more cons than pros This is definitely more jerk than knee 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 20, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2019 Hot on the heels of Degsy Hatton being allowed back into the Labour Party, this bellend wants another go too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 What an absolute whopper that bloke is. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 20, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2019 31 minutes ago, Risso said: What an absolute whopper that bloke is. He should indeed be flame grilled 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted February 20, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2019 4 minutes ago, bickster said: He should indeed be flame grilled Then shut in a box with an unfathomable quantity of onions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Hatton suspended again already, over a Tweet he posted in 2012. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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