Blog

Corbyn’s anti-patriotism was never likely to be a vote winner

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls

The polling evidence for Labour’s defeat in the general election last week is pouring in as I type. And while more knowledgeable people than me are working out the full reasons behind the result, it’s obvious that a big factor is the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

There are several reasons why people took against Corbyn, but the must standout is his attitude to his own country. He is notable for having backed Britain’s adversaries in many conflicts since he became an MP, most damagingly by inviting IRA members to parliament after the Brighton hotel bombing, which killed several people linked to the Conservatives, and might have claimed the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

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Blog

We need lessons in losing elections

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls

The Conservative routing of Labour was among the results pollsters thought likely in the general election last Thursday, but it was still a crushing end to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership (if not his politics) and the campaign to remain in the EU.

Despite not voting for the Tories, I had partly hoped they would get enough of a majority to take the UK out of the EU, fulfilling the moral and democratic obligations of the referendum. I am likewise glad that the anti-democratic remainers have lost, putting an end to their parliamentary and legal attempts to overrule the referendum.

The Tory gloating in these circumstances is natural, and other partisans would have been as gleeful had the result gone the other way. Such bad winners do little to encourage the acquiescence of losers, but bad losing is the bigger problem in our democracy right now.

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Podcast

Podcast Ep. 148: General Election – Return of the Shits

Posted on by The Podcast

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In the last podcast before this week’s general election, we discuss the campaigns, the manifestos, the leaders, the bigotry, the propaganda, the polls, our votes, and the probable result.

Joining us is Jazza’s impending livestream on Thursday.

Blog

The nanny internet of Sacha Baron Cohen

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls

At least some backlash against the internet has been down to one of the basest human instincts: self-interest. Incumbent journalists, politicians, and other public figures are disgruntled that cheaper communication has opened new channels, undermining their role as gatekeepers of public opinion.

The right sort of people have not shied away from slating what the US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton termed “deplorables”, nor their enablers among Silicon Valley executives who have made billions off the internet economy in the last few decades.

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