[News] Alastair Campbell expelled.

drew said:

Can't stand the bloke but in his defence, he was pretty impotent once Cameron had jumped ship.

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

My journey was pretty much in the opposite direction.

uninmpressed by 1960s and 70s trade unions poking their nose into the running of the country and spending members' money to be 'in solidarity' of a load of sexist racist gauchos in some faraway place like Chile or El Salvador;

not too bothered about the early 70s tories who, while epitomising the snobby class ridden mess the UK had always been were still signed up to the post war concensus on widespread nationalisation and a universal franchise;

increasingly concerned by the maverick Thatcher and her plan to turn the UK into a shit version of he US, with a 'you want it, you pay' philosophy yet with retention of all the very un-american old tory snobbery and classism;

exasperation with the well meaning but naive attempt by Foot to galvanise the nation (incidentally Foot was a consistent, conscientious and considered man with no leadership qualities, a far cry from the capricious and almost cataleptic Corbyn who also has no leadership qualities)

interested and impressed by Kinnock, especially when he threw that narcissistic prick Hatton out of the party;

disappointed yet relieved when Kinnock failed to beat Major. 'All Right. ALL RIGHT!'. No....all wrong. Sorry Neil.

Intrigued by Smith and by this time appalled with the tories who had lurched from pro-European competance - till the Lawson crash, anyway - to theiving from the taxpayer and ****ing the nearest secretary, colleague or teenager within reach, nose in any available trough, and no interest at all in the nation.

Impressed by Blair and other young labour people. Ditching clause 4 was a massive signal (read and understand clause 4 to see what I mean - 'we are no longer a communist party seeking public ownership of everything from the telly to your house');

So I joined the labour party. Me, a fiercely independent person who would normally never join any organization that would be prepared to accept me.

Then we had three terms of government that swept away a great deal of the shit of the past. When I started working at my place of work, young medics would take research options and storm into our research labs, ordering people about, not clearing up, and behaving like nobs. People regularly pulled rank by class to bully juniors. Women colleagues regularly had their arse slapped. The culture of bullying and casual racism was slowly replaced by the culture of respect. Of course Blair didn't 'do' this all by himself, but his vision, his emoting, his leadership set the stage. That's what good leadership is. Guardiola is the football equivalent.

I have said elsewhere why I backed Blair over the gulf. I have yet to hear from any Blair hater who isn't either a lifelong tory (jealous of Blair's electoral success) or an old left or liberal type who loathed Blair from the beginning for his public school education, ready charm, lack of interest in nationalising and 'saving' all the failing highly polluting industries of the 1950s, and his ability to play head tennis with Kevin Keegan.

However, I flinched when Blair drifted further into flakery - Catholicism, defender of the defender of 'all faiths' (Prince Charles), an increasing tendency to use belief to determine judgement (so it seemed to me)....and when he decided to use state money to subsidise religions other than the C of E (the state religion, as invented by Henry VIII) I sent furious email to the party, was soundly ignored, and so resigned. My view was that facilitating a state education system with a plethora of religious schools, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, without proper control of syllabus, will just facilitate sectarianism, creating mini versions of Belfast all over the UK - the opposite of integration.

One of the nice things about the US is that when you become an American, that defines you. The Brits have imported cheap labour from the colonies since the 1950s to do the jobs the whites won't. While holding our noses. And encouraging them to settle in their own mini ghettos. As initially championed by....yes it was.... Enoch Powell. That is a recipe for disaster, the opposite of integration and one-nationhood, the creation of a brand of second class citizens, alone and separated from their new nation, festering. Frankly it is astonishing that some of the behaviour and attitude we all deplore amone some sections of the immigrant ghettos hasn't become more prevalent, with an increasing amount of second, third and fourth generation immigrants now pleasingly part of our national identity. But....the latter has happened by luck more than judgement. So to see labour planning on contributing to further division was too much for me.

And then Blair left in frustration, tired of fighting the well-meaning but utterly unsuited to being anything other than a wing man, Gordon Brown. That went well. And then we had Blair light, a series of technocrats, with tory new Blair in charge of the conservatives. Dreary. This opened the way for Mr Frog Face opportunist rabble rousing chancer, Farrage. Farrage and Trump. Lying and laughing their way to the next money spinner, free of conscience, doctrine, morals.....the people were excited and appalled in not quite equal measure.....

And labour cock up their own process so badly they are now chained to Corbyn until he dies. A party hegemony by chance, the product of a constitution that gives unchecked power to the sort of people who coined the 'no compromise with the electorate' strategy of the early 80s. Drunk with their own local party power to hire and fire candidates on a whim, based on their ideological purity, yet without the guile, vision or collaborative insight to ever be sufficiently electable to form a government. Lilliputians.

And so the nation may soon burn under the leadership of Boris or even Nigel, while labour fiddle with their constitutional constitutions.

Sad.

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wellquickwoody said:

Wow, a very detailed personal political history. Thank you, mine will be much shorter.

Born into a solid Labour supporting family, both voting and membership. Grew up detesting Thatcher, if it hadn’t been my town, or the IRA, I wished they had got the xxxxx (my views changed as I got older). I cried when Kinnock failed as expectation for the left was so high amongst young people. I was saddened that John Smith possibly became the best Prime Minister that Labour never had. Tony Blair did alright in my book, but my leaning was changing. Gordon Brown had a chance but his skeletons (gold and lack of charisma) did for him. So I now found myself voting Tory, and still do today. I could vote Labour if they offered a sensible alternative but with the village idiot in charge I could never do so.

In life, personal and political, I have finally learned that you need to pay for the things you want. Putting things on the never, never should be avoided where possible. You have to prioritise, you cannot have it all at once.

Jeremy Corbyn meanwhile is an elderly but ultimately evil man. He promises the young and naive all of their aspirations in one foul swoop, but fails to tell them that they will be paying for these things for the rest of their lives. The university fees will seem like a breeze compared to the Labour promises bill under the far left.

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Simster said:

Read the whole thread, you complete simpleton.

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Jackthelad said:

Face it as you got older you got more right-wing it's very common but Corbyn or no Corbyn you sound much more suited to the Tories or Brexit Party.

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London Irish said:

Reading your crap or going to my meeting now with City experts on economics and politics, wow tough choice

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London Irish said:

Reading your crap or going to my meeting now with City experts on economics and politics, wow tough choice

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Simster said:

But that wasn't the choice. Your choice was to a) read the whole thread - including the bit where I explicitly point out he was initially allowed back in before then being expelled again, or b) just read one post, froth at the mouth before and rudely tell me to do my research.

It's not my fault you chose to be a complete cretin again.

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London Irish said:

Good lord the self-esteem issues with this one never change, no matter what decade you log in on to this messageboard

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Simster said:

You're never wrong are you?

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London Irish said:

Well, on that. I'm one of two middle-aged men exchanging schoolboy insults on a football forum. Not sure either of us will be boasting about these moments to the grandkids

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Simster said:

One of us didn't read the thread, was consequently needlessly rude, and hasn't apologised for being so. The other one hasn't. No point trying to conflate the pair of us, you're the one who's made a complete cock of himself again.

To be honest I preferred it when you were in your exciting meeting, and even better when Bozza banned you. Can't you try annoying him rather than me so that he sees fit to ban you again?

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London Irish said:

Reading your crap or going to my meeting now with City experts on economics and politics, wow tough choice

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Thunder Bolt said:

drew is right. 17.4million is a small number of people compared to £46.5 million voters in this country. Of course the population as a whole, 64.6 million makes the first number an even smaller percentage, certainly not 52%

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Simster said:

One of us didn't read the thread, was consequently needlessly rude, and hasn't apologised for being so. The other one hasn't. No point trying to conflate the pair of us, you're the one who's made a complete cock of himself again.

To be honest I preferred it when you were in your exciting meeting, and even better when Bozza banned you. Can't you try annoying him rather than me so that he sees fit to ban you again?

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