No problem, he would never pass through the Chimney

Having read the full 8 pages of this thread, Castro is the only contributor I can agree with on almost everything he's said.

As I've said before here, I used to be a mod on a US based political forum, and the Middle East forum was unmanageable...full of hate and venomous speech. I hate this subject.

Cards on the table...

I have Jewish ancestry on my father's side, my great great Grandfather was a German Jew and moved to the UK as a young man in the early 1900's. My maternal grandparents adopted a Polish Jewish refugee and raised him as my mum's brother. I still have Jewish family members, even though I'm not Jewish myself. (Just to establish that I'm not motivated by any feelings of anti-semiticism)

I'm a lifelong socialist. I vote Liberal Democrat because I've never fully related to the Labour ethos and find it often devisive and alienating.

I can't abide Jeremy Corbyn. He's the kind of politically 'right on' prick that I hated at college, on the committee of everything and so earnest and concerned about every subject under the sun. From what I can see, he hasn't matured. He'd head a demo protesting that the sky's blue given half a chance.


And then there's Red Ken... I always wondered why the people of London kept on electing him, then I realised it was because he'd write a cheque or give a grant to anything that he thought was a worthwhile cause. But as has been said earlier in this thread, I know enough people who've met and spent time with Ken to believe he's a very charming and intelligent man, even if his media persona doesn't convey that.


The way I see it is, Ken was foolish to support Ms Shah so publically and using the reference material that he did. The Haavara Agreement is a matter of historical fact, whether we like it or not. It should always be viewed as a precursor to, not a detractor from Holocaust. It has a rightful place on the timeline of events and was even part of the curriculum for my 'O' Level History back in the early 1980's.


What Ken said, no matter how factual, was worded so carelessly that it's created a firestorm. What John Mann subsequently did was a hatchet job worthy of Brutus' murder of Julius Caeser.


I'm critical of the Israeli governments under the administration of Sharon and Netanyahu, perhaps because I remember the Begin administration and the headway he at least tried to make with Sadat. That doesn't make me anti-semitic. I abhor the current British government, but it doesn't make me anti-British, and hated the PNAC backed GWB administration, but that didn't make me anti-American.


With recent electioneering events in Austria, Germany, France and America, we need to be watchful of the far right rising again and not distracted by the smoke and mirrors accusations of the media.


I only wish there was an 8 page thread devoted to which industrialists are making financial donations to the far right parties who are reemerging onto our political landscape. Obama was right when he said it's all getting like a scene from the Red Wedding.

That's odd, because I agree with you - but not with Castro.

This wonderful article from The Spectator just about sums up what Labour have to deal with. Enjoy.

http://life.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/...the-under-10s/

A handy guide to Left-wing people for the under 10s

Left-wing people in the olden days
Left-wing people used to like working-class people.
Lots of left-wing people used to be working-class people. These people were known as socialists and joined trade unions.
Sometimes working-class people used to frighten left-wing people, but they pretended that they weren’t frightened and were nice to them.
Left-wing people supported working-class people, gave them money, sat in rooms with them and wore badges to show that they cared more than right-wing people, who wore ties instead of badges and didn’t care.

Nowadays
Nowadays, working-class people are bored with socialism because it hasn’t made them rich and happy.
Nowadays left-wing people are middle-class people. Working class people are a big disappointment to left-wing people.
Left wing people now think that working class people are:
a) Simple and easily led
b) Un-enlightened and susceptible to short-term pleasures
c) Terribly sad and struggling, unable to cope on their own
d) All of the above

Education is a life-long task
Left-wing people think that working-class people are unable to think for themselves and require life-long education to help them make informed decisions.
Left-wing people work tirelessly on education programmes to encourage working class people to buy expensive food and clothes and not cheap food and clothes. They are disappointed that working-class people are un-ethical.



Working-class people like to drink alcohol, have sex and eat tasty food. They do not understand that these activities are dangerous and need continuous education from left-wing people.
Working-class people need to be protected from newspapers, even though they don’t read them anymore. They are easily influenced and their happy-go-lucky ways can be turned into bigoted nasty ways. Left-wing people are needed to help them use Facebook carefully and not make mistakes.

Left-wing people like to be sad and unhappy
Many left-wing people have a very nice life, but they like to be sad. To help with this, they choose to be sad for other people. Sometimes these people are far away and sometimes they are nearby, but different to them.
In the olden days, left-wing people tried to make it better for other people. Nowadays, they like to protect them by being offended when a working-class person doesn’t behave properly.
Left-wing like to help other people by being offended on their behalf. This means that the other people can carry on with their lives and the left-wing people do all the work. This isn’t really fair, but the left-wing people seem to carry on doing it, so they must enjoy it. Despite all this effort left-wing people are still very sad.

Left-wing people care more than other people
Left-wing people care so much that they love the whole entire planet. Other people don’t care about the planet, they only care about themselves and other people that they know. This means that left-wing people have to love the planet even more, even more than they actually like other people.
Left-wing people show that they care by telling other people about how much they care. They send special “I care” signals to other people. Forwarding videos on Facebook is one way that they can show how much they care. The videos often show people far away who are living miserable lives, but pictures of cute fluffy chickens in nasty factories are considered sufficient.
Left-wing activists (see below) are very helpful. They make lots of “I care” videos which makes it quick and easy for left-wing people to send their “signals”. They do this several times throughout each day when they are not busy.



Sometimes Left-wing people are made angry by other people
Left-wing people care so much, it makes them hate people who don’t show that they care. These people are right-wing people. Left-wing people have given them a name. It is “Tory scum”. Left-wing people like to shout at the right-wing people and tell them that they are scum even when they aren’t listening.
Shouting at the Tories is another way to show that they care. Caring is very important to left-wing people.
Left-wing people care so deeply that they don’t have time for thinking and convincing. They use their precious time for shouting about caring.
Also, working-class people don’t know what left-wing people are saying, so it is helpful when they point to the right-wing people and shout “scum”. They think that working-class people do understand shouting and caring.
If you have observed someone and you are not sure if they are a left-wing person, seek their opinion on “the Tories”. If they start to shout and care, they are left-wing.

Left-wing activists are helpful
Left-wing activists are left-wing people who have an internet connection. They make the internet very loud.
Left-wing activists help other people care on the internet. They are very helpful in pointing out when people have forgotten to show that they care. They help people in many ways – watching videos, commenting on things and clicking on buttons called “start a petition”. Left-wing activists sometimes go outside their houses and meet other left-wing people and they care together and shout at the Tory scum.

Left-wing people are funny
Left-wing people have “enlightened comedians” who make jokes on “panel games”. These are broadcast on the television and BBC Radio 4.
The enlightened comedians make people laugh at right-wing people, whom they consider stupid. In the olden days, comedians made jokes about Irish people, but these comedians weren’t clever like the enlightened comedians.
Instead of the Irish people, the enlightened comedians make jokes about working-class people. Because they care, they use special words like “Glaswegians”, “Sun readers” and “UKIP supporters”, so the working-class people will not notice.
Working-class people do funny things like drinking Monster energy drinks, eating Haribos and watching television. This is funny and the enlightened comedians are helpful because they point at them and laugh, so we know who to laugh at as well. It is very funny and we all laugh because we are enlightened too.

Further reading
In the 1930’s George Orwell wrote about the left-wing people he knew in “The Road to Wigan Pier”. It is very funny.

I have known numbers of middle class Socialists, I have listened by the hour to their tirades against their own class, and yet never, not even once, have I met one who had picked up proletarian table-manners.
In his heart he feels that proletarian manners are disgusting…he hates, fears, and despises the working class.

Still early but Labour are doing badly in the Scottish Parliamentary elections, and some shock results in Wales... Doesn't bode well for the English council elections...

I did see an attempt to sum up the Tories similarly, but it was full of the usual Tory Scum hatred, so didn't really work - rather it validated the original

Labour did better than forecast and better than I expeczed.

Did not expect the SNP to lose their overall majority; still by far the largest party.

Labour have some great MPs. Unfortunately, I don't believe Corbyn to be one of them and see him as a vote loser. Apparently, he's a great constituency MP, but there are far better potential party leaders coming up through the ranks. Thing is, I don't know if Andy Burnham and Lisa Nandy would want the job or be ready for it.

Underestimating Jeremy Corbyn should become a national sport.

Or overestimating the voters

Or underestimating peoples ability to vote for their Party no matter what their record is. Case in point, Rotherham return a Labour council with an increased majority after 1400 child rapes.

Were the council raping children? If not I think you are being a little scaremongery

Or perhaps you need to inform yourself about what happened. Rotherham council failed to acknowledge what was happening. Children's Services (also part of Rotherham council) failed to follow up on any reports of abuse due to institutionalised political correctness. The council was reported to be unfit for purpose and elected councillors had to be replaced.

Spot on. This happens pretty much everywhere.

Exactly, they were replaced, so different Councillors than were in charge during the time... You really can't tar them all with the same brush you know. Jeees louis. All Labour members are anti-semetics AND overly politically correct now... how does that even work?

They're only overly politically correct where repressed Muslims are concerned. Which funnily enough goes hand in hand with anti-semitism.

However you carry on voting for them. Black is white, up is down, and elected Labour councillors had nothing to do with 1400 children getting abused in Rotherham.

I find this article very amusing (and true, especially this part) but a lot of these things are valid for some conservatives too!

You are stepping on dangerous ice here my friend, my father is an elected Labour councillor. He is nether an anti-Semite nor a pedophile enabler. And you really do not want to start connecting pedophiles/pedophile enablers to an entire party in the UK.... *cough*Elm Guest House*cough*

It seems Lynton's had an affect on overseas Tories as well. Who knew gutter politics and the Tories were so symbiotic.