Britain is going to be Tory for at least 10 years.

[klr]

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas. £3 bought a person the right to help screw up the labour party and UK politics generally for the foreseeable future. Some Labour voters will go to the Tories, some to the Lib Dems (perhaps helping to rejuvenate it), some to UKIP. Some of the politicians will also go. Many of those who chose to remain will opt for pissing inside the tent, which (despite the old saying) may be worse than them being outside.

You can't hope to win a majority by lurching this far away from the centre. For every new voter they will attract - often from the non-voting populace - they will probably lose at least one regular voter to another party.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I can see Corbyn relishing the kind of Labour/SNP coalition that Milliband backed away from.

[klr]

I can see Corbyn relishing the kind of Labour/SNP coalition that Milliband backed away from.

From the noises Nicola Sturgeon was making today, I can't see that happening. It is probably in the SNP's long-term interests to keep Labour as isolated and ineffectual as possible. Having a dominant Conservative party is a very good argument for Scottish independence.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I can see Corbyn relishing the kind of Labour/SNP coalition that Milliband backed away from.

From the noises Nicola Sturgeon was making today, I can't see that happening. It is probably in the SNP's long-term interests to keep Labour as isolated and ineffectual as possible. Having a dominant Conservative party is a very good argument for Scottish independence.

Labour is not going to regain Scotland for a very long time, if ever. The SNP have stolen their clothes north of the border, and wear them better! It is true that Labour can't win without Scotland - but by cozying up to Nicky's lot, they can have the next best thing.

Whatever though. Politics are going to get rather interesting between now and the next election...

[PsychoSerenity]

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas. £3 bought a person the right to help screw up the labour party and UK politics generally for the foreseeable future. Some Labour voters will go to the Tories, some to the Lib Dems (perhaps helping to rejuvenate it), some to UKIP. Some of the politicians will also go. Many of those who chose to remain will opt for pissing inside the tent, which (despite the old saying) may be worse than them being outside.

You can't hope to win a majority by lurching this far away from the centre. For every new voter they will attract - often from the non-voting populace - they will probably lose at least one regular voter to another party.

Except Corbyn also won over 50% of the fully paid up members and union affiliates too. The £3 supporters didn't even need to come into it. And he's not proposing much that is really far left, - most of it is pretty standard centre-left policies that are already doing well in places like Germany. National investment banks, green energy, nationalised rail and joined up public transport, etc. What's more he's got sound principles which allows him to be both plain talking and consistent - much more inspiring to most of the public than the media-polished sound-bite career politicians that we all know and hate. Corbyn could really shake things up.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Where he is going to suffer is on his foreign policy. You can bank on the Tories dragging up his long association with Sinn Fein (well before it was sexy), his backing of Hamas, and any other support for "fellow-travellers" that they can find. He's in for a rough ride...

[PsychoSerenity]

Where he is going to suffer is on his foreign policy. You can bank on the Tories dragging up his long association with Sinn Fein (well before it was sexy), his backing of Hamas, and any other support for "fellow-travellers" that they can find. He's in for a rough ride...

I don't know, I think he's got them there too. The trouble for the Tories is that old media is dying and social media allows propaganda to be ripped to pieces. Corbyn's genuine efforts for peace talks look much more sensible than the likes of this: Michael Fallon: Corbyn 'a risk to security' - watch the video and watch him do nothing but repeat the sound-bites. It's an utterly desperate smear and it's laughably obvious.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Where he is going to suffer is on his foreign policy. You can bank on the Tories dragging up his long association with Sinn Fein (well before it was sexy), his backing of Hamas, and any other support for "fellow-travellers" that they can find. He's in for a rough ride...

I don't know, I think he's got them there too. The trouble for the Tories is that old media is dying and social media allows propaganda to be ripped to pieces. Corbyn's genuine efforts for peace talks look much more sensible than the likes of this: Michael Fallon: Corbyn 'a risk to security' - watch the video and watch him do nothing but repeat the sound-bites. It's an utterly desperate smear and it's laughably obvious.

To anyone with a quarter of a brain, every time a politician recites their soundbites it is teeth-grindingly excruciating. Sadly, that is more brain than the average voter seems to have!

[Rum]

Looks like the Scots are ahead of the game. Announcing details of the 'next referendum' apparently. So much for 'once in a generation'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-34234024

[cronus]

Looks like the Scots are ahead of the game. Announcing details of the 'next referendum' apparently. So much for 'once in a generation'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-34234024

Don't worry, like I said the entire North will breakaway on the day including Cumbria. Corbyn could be your Moses...Rum?

[mistermack]

I think that Corbyn is getting far too much credit for winning the leadership.

The media are casting his performance as dynamic and inspiring. It's all bollocks.
He won, because of the new voting system. Arthur Scargill would have won, if he could have stood.

One man one vote means that a lefty will always get elected from now on. Because the vast majority of Labour Party members, and paid up affiliates, are always going to be lefties.

My sister is an activist for Labour, and has actually briefly met Corbyn. She voted for him, but she told me that she knew virtually nothing about him.
I think that stands for most of the 200,000 who voted for him. All they knew was that he was of the left.

When the voting system was changed, I thought it odd that there wasn't more noise from the Unions, as it was portrayed as stripping them of their block votes.
Now I know why they kept quiet. They knew that this was even better for them.

[Rum]

Well so be it. If there's a vacuum left of centre it will no doubt be filled. Lib-Dems might even lay a claim.

[Hermit]

One man one vote means that a lefty will always get elected from now on. Because the vast majority of Labour Party members, and paid up affiliates, are always going to be lefties.

That's just downright disgusting. If a party gets the leader the vast majority of its members want you ought to protest by voting for the Tories at the next election. Oh, wait...

[mistermack]

One man one vote means that a lefty will always get elected from now on. Because the vast majority of Labour Party members, and paid up affiliates, are always going to be lefties.

That's just downright disgusting. If a party gets the leader the vast majority of its members want you ought to protest by voting for the Tories at the next election. Oh, wait...

That's quite right. I probably will. I've voted Labour all my life, except once, to keep Neil Kinnock out.
My motivation that time was mainly that Kinnock and the Labour party were going to scrap the Trident Nukes. It looks like being the same again, in 2020.

As far as the voting system goes, yes it's democratic. And no, it won't get them elected.
Democracy isn't the answer to everything that people claim it is. It can go too far, and it has done here. If you ever want a Labour government that is.

If you increase democracy, you get a shit result.
Today, you could easily maximise democracy, by having a referendum on every issue. Instead of having a parliament, let the public decide. That's the ultimate in democracy, but it would be a shit system.
The public are too dumb to make important decisions. And too lazy to do the research.

I would have the MPs elect their leader. They are the ones that are in touch and informed. Not your average loony party member.

[Hermit]

Democracy ... can go too far ... The public are too dumb to make important decisions.

Yes, the will of the people, as expressed by a democratic vote can and historically speaking has had not just regrettable but downright disastrous consequences, but what other options are there? A council of the wise? The likes of Rupert Murdoch and associated oligarchs are very much in favour of that, and I can clearly see why they would be. Or should we plumb for a benevolent dictator? Well, best of luck with the odds of getting one of those.