The Wilson/Callaghan era is before my time, but it does seem to me that another 1979 moment is approaching. The coalition are trying to pull all the old Thatcherite levers, but it isn't having any (positive) effect. The Blairites/Cameroons/Orange Bookers remind me a bit of Greyfriars Bobby, forlornly sat by the grave of a dead orthodoxy wondering why it won't come back to life - they're well behind the curve. In fairness to Ed Miliband, I think he gets it but the test for him, and social democrats generally, is carving out a coherent alternative.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

Also

A very confused piece from Rob Marchant on Ed Miliband's recent appearance at the Durham Miners' Gala. Apparently his speech was fine, but because it was at an event attended by actual working-class people in the north, it won't play too well with southern voters. Or something.

http://labourlist.org/2012/07/soothing- ... ublic-210/

I thought it made a pleasant change to see a Labour leader - the first to appear at the Gala for nearly a quarter of a century - actually reaching out to his long-neglected core vote, even if certain sections of his own party would rather pretend these people don't exist. I'm struggling to see how Mondeo Man is likely to be too alarmed by it, to be honest.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

I agree. It was important for Ed to be at the gala. Though Sayeeda Warsi was doing her level (crap) best to stir up Mail-ite reaction, I noticed - I'd say to no perceptible effect.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

And of course he was attacked from both sides. I found myself standing next to a bloke who insisted on bellowing "You're a millionaire" at him all the way through his speech. After the fifth or sixth time I told him to shut up, so he then started telling me all about what a hypocrite Milliband was because he wasn't a real socialist.
I pointed out that Atlee died a long time ago and that, unfortunately, the choice we have is Milliband or Cameron. He didn't seem to grasp this, however he did understand that the crowd were becoming hostile towards him and the amount of noise he was making when they were trying to listen and he made his escape.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

It's bad enough when they attack Socialists who've evolved beyond keeping coal in the bath never mind when we do it ourselves.

"You're a millionaire"?

Wasn't Clem pretty well off as well?

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Well yes, I used him as an example of a Socialist Labour leader.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

I thought that Miliband is a 'millionaire' by dint of owning/inheriting a big house in Hampstead?

Stop being so PC. Everybody knows every millionaire has £1m or more in their current account. Bill Gates has billions in his, all available to spend on his Maestro card. That's how being a millionaire works, innit?

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Soppy anti-British, pro-crime, anti-education, pro-immigration, anti-family nonentity

How foolish of me. I should have realised, because my wallet continually bulges with the full value of my house...

One for Tubby Isaacs here. A nasty little hatchet job from Marchant on Lutfur Rahman and his backers on Tower Hamlets council. The references to Kinnock and Militant say a lot though - the Labour right still sees itself as fighting the battles of 25 years ago.



http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/07/25/ti ... ets-party/

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

Anti-racists are the real racists!

No state multiculturalism. But more religious state schools.

Which is exactly what the EDL say.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

Keir Hardie and Woody Guthrie weren't millionaires. What a bs political system when you need 6 figs min to stand for the top job. Look at this Romney character (who's just called Ed "Mr Leader"...); nothing to the man, just oodles of cash. What have they actually done, what are they actually saying? Who will they help?

If Milliband wants credibility, he should turn his inherited Hampstead mansion into a liberal care home for marginalised and abandoned youngsters. Where are the Shaftesbury figures in this opposition ffs?

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"...now, with a most inhuman cruelty, they who have put out the people’s eyes, reproach them of their blindness..."