Tuesday 23 August 2016

Time to grow up - and Step Up

Chi Onwurah MP has moaned that she had her role jiggled around a bit after the chicken coup started, and was then left to get on with her job by herself with no help from the leader's office. 


Owen Smith has made it central to his campaign that he was left alone to do his new job taking on the DWP with no help from the leader's office - he also claims for himself the successes in turning around Tory legislation (largely thanks to labour lords, I thought?) but says in the same breath this is a failure of Corbyn's. 

A pattern is starting to emerge. People who were parachuted in to safe seats by the previous Labour administrations are expected to step up and do a real job on their own initiative like a proper grownup - and when no-one from central office turns up to do their job for them they claim racism, sexism, incompetence, any damn thing to cover up their panic at having to do something more than wear a shiny suit and nod through Tory policy.

Not good enough. And we can see through this.

Tuesday 2 August 2016

Forget social media. It's useless.

We need a Labour government or we're doomed. We need a proper democratic SOCIALIST government, not a UKIP-lite Tory-lite neoliberal monocracy. Damn straight. But the political establishment on all sides are resolute that people should have no real say in how they are controlled and used as the corporates' cash cow. That's why the Green Party only have one MP, and why socialists are always in a minority.

If Labour is to actually get elected we must get the message across to millions and millions of people despite the MSM and their corporate leader writers. As a tool for national change on this scale, social media is useless. It speaks to the same people over and over, preaching to the converted, the already privileged with computers and smartphones, the few that think social medial is important. Yes, few. 2,000,000 might seem a lot, but there are 43,000,000 voters we need to talk to, voters who currently think Corbyn is a dangerous laughing stock and only the Tories have a genuine narrative, because we have let the MSM get away with it for so long.

We have to get the genuine messages about what we know to be true out there in front of 43,000,000 people? Not just a handful. If we don't, we lose. If we do, we might - might - win.

These messages have to be true, and blunt, and direct, and unequivocal. Messages about tax credits, in work poverty, homelessness, IMMIGRATION IMMIGRATION IMMIGRATION and the scarcity of resources (and why the problem isn't immigration), and how to fix it, with NHS funding and housing, schools etc well you know what the problems are.

And these messages have to be everywhere. On the back of every bus in every city. On massive posters (remember "Labour isn't working"?). In every toilet in every motorway services, on trains, on fly posters, leaflets and handouts on the street, and yes, in every newspaper on full page ads - it has to be relentless, unavoidable, inescapable that we MUST have a democratic socialist government for all our sakes, and our children's future.

And that takes planning and a lot of money. Does labour have either, and the will to do what's necessary?