tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post6539111545772296701..comments2024-03-17T11:05:22.464+00:00Comments on The Life And Opinions of Andrew Rilstone: I wouldn't join any political party which would accept me as a member Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-34557245133370819642020-03-05T20:48:30.389+00:002020-03-05T20:48:30.389+00:00It would have helped a huge amount if I had typed ...It would have helped a huge amount if I had typed "Did NOT intend to say..." rather than "Did intend to say." I think on that note I shall go back to bed. <br /><br />Sorry...Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-20994648682214551822020-03-05T20:46:08.763+00:002020-03-05T20:46:08.763+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-72132959041560739342020-03-05T20:30:30.533+00:002020-03-05T20:30:30.533+00:00Keir Starmer is unamiguously white, the poor thing...Keir Starmer is unamiguously white, the poor thing. There's nothing he can do about that. He's also posh, but that too is difficult for him to change, unless you think he should pull a Nigel Kennedy and affect an estuary accent.<br /><br />I'm not sure how he is populist. And I'm not at all seeing a racist part.<br /><br />I note in passing that Corbyn is also white, and seems to me much more populist than Starmer, though admittedly less posh.<br /><br />I think the main things I want in a Labour leader at this point are competence, the humility to listen to experts, and consistent hard work. It seems to me that in all these categories, Starmer would be an upgrade. I imagine that to you, all of that is outweighed by his policies not being as socialist as you would prefer. Which specific policies of his do you dislike?Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-40125866790734707842020-03-05T19:57:39.486+00:002020-03-05T19:57:39.486+00:00Did intend to say that Kier Starmer was a posh, wh...Did intend to say that Kier Starmer was a posh, white, populist etc etc. I intended to say that if the only or main thing Labour want to do is win the 2029 election, then the next leader but one needs to be a posh, white etc etc. (Because we have established that that is what an "electable" leader looks like.) If you don't want a posh, white etc etc leader then there it follows that there are more important things that electability. But there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza....<br />Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-42769889198219810452020-03-04T18:48:31.135+00:002020-03-04T18:48:31.135+00:00Ah yes, "balance".
https://andrewhickey...Ah yes, "balance".<br /><br />https://andrewhickey.info/2017/07/03/how-centrism-works/Gavin Burrowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347163260510316959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-2479859812584349902020-03-01T18:39:33.634+00:002020-03-01T18:39:33.634+00:00Okay, a couple of points. The issue was not really...Okay, a couple of points. The issue was not really about supporting the rights of trans people. It was about balancing supporting the rights of trans people against supporting the rights of abused women who still (rightly or wrongly) perceive some trans women as men. As a former human rights lawyer, I think Keir got that. Lisa and Becky didn’t. After Tony Blair was elected John Prescott was interviewed by Michael Parkinson in a kind of one Yorkshireman to another interview and Prescott spoke of how his experience as a shop steward had taught him to value compromise; that is why he, though left leaning, could be in Blair’s cabinet and why he is one of the few of the old guard Blairites who liked Corbyn. It’s why Keir Starmer could be in Corbyn’s government and as Tony Benn used to say the Labour Party like a bird has a left wing and a right wing and needs both to fly. Unfortunately, like the left brain which thinks it can operate without the right brain, the right wing seem to think it can operate without the left and think the Kinnock and Blair years prove that; they don’t. The left was always there, a bit wounded but beating away. <br />Anyway in the midst of all this conflict I have realised something very important. Most people, including me, don’t have a clue how economics and especially macroeconomics works. We need to educate ourselves and then others. Because without that basic knowledge being there people don’t really see why austerity was a serious error, why we can invest to grow. Why having broadband available for businesses will grow the economy and will put food on the table and why the Keynesian elements of the Green New Deal are very important and can not only save the country but save the planet. What I don’t know is how to get people to understand that without seeming to patronise them.<br />postodavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18402698812156032820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-56298740629193993102020-03-01T18:13:02.995+00:002020-03-01T18:13:02.995+00:00It is seldom that a blog by Andrew Rilstone provok...It is seldom that a blog by Andrew Rilstone provokes me to an ungovernable fury, and taking a two-hour walk to compose a reply was largely co-incidence, but....We may agree that the Papists and the Woodcraft Folk are not traitors to Queen and Country. We can agree that the BBC and the National Trust still do a jolly good job like they did fifty years ago, but perhaps not the same job. We can agree that Clement Atlee was still a Socialist, though he supported nuclear weapons and capital punishment. If these things are true, nothing follows. If I ask Andrew who should go into the lists against Boris in 2025 when the Tories are tarnished and threadbare, I can expect a range of answers. Rilstone A will give a faux naive answer about Boris being a toff who doesn't like the poor or black people. Rilstone B will opine that Kier Starmer is a Social Democrat, and therefore anathema to the Socialist Creed that we all know by heart. The proto-Rilstone probably has some good ideas about toppling Thatcher. The Ur-Rilstone wants to keep the sacred flame burning before the Goddess of Socialism, usually depicted as an Angel with an extended Left Wing. However, what I need is a summery of the five things Andrew would do if he was Prime Minister, and how these match with the policies of Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy, Peter Parker, Rebecca Long -Bailey and all, and all, Rebecca Long Bailey and all. What we have instead is that after ten lean years, Jeremy Corbyn will be re-incarnated as the Dalai Lama and after finishing their A-levels will lead us to the promised land. I am afraid this feels like the Socialist equivalent of a Vicar who believes that 'God's Word' is the King James Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, 100 Hymns Ancient and Modern, and can't understand why the Bishop might want to sell off his crumbling church, move both parishioners elsewhere and use the money to fund a youth group. To sum up, you seem to have said a lot about having nothing to say, rather than speaking plainly and to the purpose.Richard Worthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09025201422909987658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-65389657062037728442020-03-01T15:47:23.200+00:002020-03-01T15:47:23.200+00:00Well, I think this is more cynical than the situat...Well, I think this is more cynical than the situation merits.<br /><br />But I can certainly see why you feel the way you do.<br /><br />But honestly: equating Kier Starmer with a posh, white, populist, racist leader does seem a little extreme. I'm sure he's very nice.Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-48498958659207314982020-03-01T13:28:26.727+00:002020-03-01T13:28:26.727+00:00Surely...you over-react, slightly?
Jeremy Corby...Surely...you over-react, slightly? <br /><br />Jeremy Corbyn has had a long political career. He has adopted several positions which are a - very divisive and/or b - not obviously dependent upon one otherwise having socialist beliefs and/or c - seemingly contradictory (e.g. to hate economic inequality and then propose policies, which at least initially, would increase it). So it would seem to follow that there might be a pathway to a broadly socialist government that someone else might find. The Labour Party members who supported it might find themselves in the position of having to compromise slightly on some of their beliefs (analagous to the very free-market Tory members who hate the idea of a BBC and an NHS, but in practice continue to support it, just not at the level its supporters would like). The Labour Party as an institution might have to accept that currently one of its aims (stopping the Tories) might currently be best served by formal pacts with other parties which compromise a little its main aim (maximizing its own vote in terms of seats). But none of that seems to me to rule out a socialist Labour party forming a government.<br /><br />If you could go back in time seven months and form that Government of National Unity without Jeremy Corbyn as leader, but knowing what was about to befall, would you do it?JWHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637785437909299947noreply@blogger.com