Henley was something of a disaster, if you look at relevant vote shares from 1997 to Thursday. (Or even, actually, forever.) But it was a by-election, and third parties get squeezed. That’s life. Get excited if you want to. I sort of am. It was pretty fucking shit, after all.

“This is the inevitable unwind of New Labour. There is only so much triangulation you can do before everyone starts getting pissed off”

This is no doubt very satisfying for you to write, Benji, but I think there will be few people suggesting that Labour is utterly fucked because it is being *too* Blairite. You are welcome to live in your own personal world, of course.

Whenever the party does badly, you get creatures crawling out of the woodwork claiming that if only we followed their individual path to salvation, all would be well. This thread is a mild example of this.

It is a great shame the Tory Party does not have such wacko shits as foot-soldiers, supporters and assorted hangers-on. Life would be a lot easier if the Right was so quick to shit on its own kind for betrayal of the Pure Thought Tendency.

Such people are useless self-indulgent cunts who ought to burn in the flames of hell. (Was that too mild?)

What people have to understand (I seem to keep writing this sort of thing a lot these days) is that what you call “triangulation”, other people call sensible pragmatic politics which will result in the continuation of the party into the latter part of this century, thus ensuring its historic mission in support of the working class. But, you know, that’s just me. That cunt who lives in Hong Kong is totally more with it than me, and I should probably fuck off and smother myself now.

Now, I know there’s lots of rude words here. But I don’t really care a great deal.

Because, whilst this thread is a mild example of the “I am so left wing, follow me and all will be well, children” tendency, it is much more of an example of the “I am a right wing bloggertarian cunt with no social skills or ability to relate to real human beings or actual social problems, and I will give you the benefit of my knowledge of how Labour is so fucked, and my resulting glee, and then you can lick my frigid hands and thank me for my amazing capacious knowledge and metaphorically felate me by using such phrases as nuLab and zanuLab”.

And, you know, in the *nicest* possible way, I think I might just politely decline that offer. But, again, that’s just me.

We’re not doing very well at all. In fact, we’re doing very badly. It is difficult to know how to turn things around. In fact, I don’t things can be turned around, enough.

But things can be turned around somewhat. Whether with a new leader or without.

There is so much to be proud of that we’ve achieved in the last decade. We’ve bloody well transformed this nation, and we should damn well be proud of that.

And the fact that we are going to lose the next election, and the fact that the internet is full of cunts (and that they seem to pick particular moments to infest a progressive blog like this) is neither here nor there. Such people will be swept aside by the tide of history. They will be (and are being) burried by the avalanche of social progress which the Labour Party has merely the privilege to represent the tip of.

If you are (and I fucking well am) made angry by the idiotic crap piled on on this thread, then the best thing you can do is join the party if you haven’t already. And go out and knock on people’s doors in the run up to the next election, whether you have joined already or not.

Think of it (if you will) as one in the eye for twats like Alcuin, Morgoth and the like.

Missionary zeal? Yeah, sure.

Pro-Labour loyalist clap-trap? Undoubtedly.

Interested in what’s actually going to happen to the country, rather than simply some spazzy self-indulgent internet bollocks? Well, I would have thought so.

Except, you’re not ‘as worthy as any of the others’ – you’re more worthy (to the company) simply for being a man, or a white person, or a wheelchair user – whatever is needed to boost their ‘diversity’. You are, in effect, being picked for something you can’t change, not for your skills.

This policy, where it’s used (and assuming it ever sees the light of day), will breed nothing but resentment.

“I’m afraid your conclusion is illogical.”

Your refusal to see the political disaster that this policy represents, and to go on insisting that it is correct and good and right, is the only illogical thing here.

But then, that attituide seems pretty well-spread among the (currently) governing party, so enjoy it while it lasts. I’ll bookmark this thread to read after the next election.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

^ That was pretty much all that was posted here for a good six months during the whole thing, I’m sure you can handle what you dished out till the election. :) GE here we come!

A post Henley By-Election message from New Labour:-

Still I’m sure that Bleary Hazel will tell us what a victory it was. How’s the new laptop Haze??

Um, if you read up-thread, you’ll find others did that first.

It’s been pointed out to you that a) it doesn’t do that,

I missed that bit. Remind me.

b) even if it did, this is not how it’s going to play.

To the extent that it might not play like that, I think you’ll have those misrepresenting the legislation as “anti-white bias” to thank for that.

It will be seen as ‘tokenising’ people, because that it what it reduces people to – tokens, valued for their sex/race/gender.

Yeah, so you keep saying, but seeing as how this criteria can only come into play if I am the equal of all candidates to begin with, I don’t see how this can apply. Why would I feel I was a “token” anything if selected on this basis? There were, by definition, no superior candidates. I’m as worthy as any of the others.

I’m afraid your conclusion is illogical.

New Labour policy in a nutshell – declare victory in the face of the evidence…

“This legislation is not aimed at tackling the unscrupulous employers who practice race/gender bias, rather it is there to assist those who don’t.”

It’s been pointed out to you that a) it doesn’t do that, and b) even if it did, this is not how it’s going to play. It will be seen as ‘tokenising’ people, because that it what it reduces people to – tokens, valued for their sex/race/gender.

;-)

Will the legislation be framed in terms that would protect the Somali?
Or are Somalis and Jamaicans both treated as the same under the legislation?

“Flyposted “You worked hard for this job, you sailed through the interview, you were best qualified – Unfortunately you are white.”

“That would be illegal. The proposal would not legalise such practices. If this legislation is so bad, why do people have to keep making stuff up?”

Yes we all know flyposting is illegal – Does that stop it ?

Would you Brownie be happy defending a Labour seat in East London of parts of the Midlands, or inner Essex with the Nutzies going door to door on the theme Labour is ‘positively’ discriminating against you white working class maes.

And flyposting stickers on the same theme ?

No, not thought through, impossible to work, and politically damaging !

GW