[youngian]

I thought this growing media sub-genre deserved its own thread.

Today in the Mail; Corbyn has a beard

CHRIS DEERIN: Stuck in a Left-wing Eighties timewarp, Corbyn’s simplistic brand of ‘beard knows best’ politics

On the second Sunday in June 1983, three days after Labour’s general election handbagging, the party’s far Left gathered for a post-mortem. The meeting was held at the Brixton flat of journalist and activist Chris Mullin, later an MP and minister in the Blair government.
It was attended by a who’s who of the Bennites: Tony Benn himself, newly defenestrated by the voters of Bristol South East, Audrey Wise, Michael Meacher, Ken Livingstone and others. Reg Race, who later had the distinction of losing Benn’s Chesterfield seat to the Lib Dems on the latter’s retiral in 2001, was in the chair.
Also in the room was a Leylandii-bearded councillor in his mid-30s, one of the few new Labour MPs to have been elected amid the carnage: the member for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn.

This is the politics of the real, dug-in Hard Left: the beard knows best, whether it belongs to Marx or Lenin or Castro or Corbyn.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/a ... z3iOVQrUI5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Ok Jeremy's not a champagne socialist but all his friends are on the Marxist Guardian

They devour the rhetoric of the Guardian’s highly-paid class-war hypocrites.

[D.C. Harrison]

I now feel that my inability to grow a decent beard is keeping me back in life.

[mikey mikey]

The Independent's Political Headline

Jeremy Corbyn to 'bring back Clause IV': Contender pledges to bury New Labour with commitment to public ownership of industry

False and not open for comments.

The Guardian's misleading headline still there despite their veiled retraction yesterday

Jeremy Corbyn suggests he would bring back Labour's nationalising clause IV

So not just the Tory Press.

With friends like these...

[Andy McDandy]

It's because, as Frank Cottrell Boyce wrote on Friday, most media decision makers - not necessarily entry level reporters but editors, department heads, creative directors, the ones who set the agenda - live in London/SE and are rather fond of the high life. So even if they profess to a social conscience, they're still paying BUPA subs and sending the kids private to avoid the smelly local comp. They see 'socialism' (as they understand and label it) as like Cuba - lovely and retro and great to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

[Messianic Trees]

From the Daily Mail version of this story:

Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn has backtracked on remarks he made suggesting he would bring back the Party's commitment to nationalise industry.

The veteran left winger said he would consider reversing Tony Blair's decision two decades ago to scrap Clause IV, which committed Labour to 'common ownership of the means of production'.

But the remarks sparked a backlash from his leadership rivals and this morning he denied he would reinstate the clause.

And also from the Mail:

NOW Jeremy Corbyn DEFENDS a controversial vicar who was banned from social media for sharing 'clearly anti-Semitic' material blaming Israel for 9/11 attacks

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3iOdPy4KD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These latest revelations raise serious questions about Corbyn's association with extremists of all stripes.

[mikey mikey]

Clearly Labour needs to reach out to it's Mailite swing voters.

As it happens the latest comments are hilarious;

I'm slowly but surely warming up to this Corbyn guy

It it actually getting on my nerves now DM

Next he will eat babies and torture puppies

It would appear that Jeremy Corbyn should have horns and a trident if we believe anything the DM has to say about him

and top rated of the lot

Whatever you think of his views at least he has the guts to stick to them and not change them every five minutes in an attempt to please everyone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3iOgGYamz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[youngian]

The point is Corbyn can bat most of this away (and talking to the SNP) because he's a consensus builder who is fed up with ya boo politics. And the more his opponents ya boo the more attractive a proposition he looks to mild moderate Middle England.


Can't say I'm a regular reader of Weekly Worker but this is an interesting take on meeting shadey Middle East characters

Part of the ‘lunatic wing’ - like Jack Straw
Smearing Jeremy Corbyn as a friend of Islamist extremists is disingenuous, hypocritical and incorrect, writes Yassamine Mather
The Hamas/Iran story is interesting. Of course, in the complicated world of the Middle East, Hamas and Iran are not allies, and lumping them together in the same headline does not make sense. Nevertheless, on July 19, when The Sunday Telegraph used the first headline above, Salman bin Abdulaziz, a close friend of British royalty and the British government, was making history by becoming the first Saudi head of state to meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Mecca. Hamas is now a key Saudi ally in the region, having supported the kingdom’s stance in Yemen.

Needless to say, The Sunday Telegraph’s claim that Corbyn is an apologist for the Islamic Republic is disingenuous, hypocritical and incorrect.

The Telegraph also avoided referring to another member of the delegation: Jack Straw, foreign minister under Tony Blair and, like Lamont, a business consultant. In April 2011, Straw was appointed as consultant to ED & F Man Holdings Ltd, a British company based in London specialising in the production and trading of commodities and financial services.5 In February 2015, he took a job with a firm which won a £75 million government contract after he lobbied a minister on its behalf.6

Corbyn, on the other hand, holds no directorships or business consultancies. He has no financial interest in the matter: he was concerned about the effects of sanctions on ordinary Iranians. In his ‘report-back’ to his constituents in the Islington Gazette, he said:

The embassy needs to be re-opened to allow those living in the UK to travel to see family members without having to go through Turkey. I hear all the time from the Iranian diaspora living in Islington - often students who are struggling to get funds from the bank or those who wish to visit very ill relatives in Iran. http://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1068/p ... ack-straw/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They see 'socialism' (as they understand and label it) as like Cuba - lovely and retro and great to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

They should be very careful about bringing up South American comparisons to Corbyn http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/8 ... e1t_MupEpl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[youngian]

Yvette Cooper outlines her technological revolution; say "high tech jobs" and "digital" and as a critique to Corbynomics; say "British Leyland"

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[new puritan]

Can't say I a regular reader of Weekly Worker but this is an interesting take on meeting shadey Middle East characters

If your average liberal/Tory hack took half as much interest in who their 'centrist' heroes knock about with, they might occasionally be useful.

[Andy McDandy]

Ah but they were acting in their role as heads of state/promoting trade/accepting the realities of the world and engaging in realpolitik. Corbyn did it for the cause/shiggles.

It's really become a massive game of I/you/they.

[Agnes]

I'm sorry, I just can't get past the SNP thing. I know it's parochial of me. But I want a UK leader who'll be 100% supportive of Scottish Labour rather than giving the Nats ammunition like this.

Maybe when/if he's elected he'll come out swinging against them, pointing out they're a crowd of Tories etc. - I do hope so. Because treating their Westminster representatives as if they're revolutionary Socialists with whom he can do business and leaving us in Scotland to point out that actually they're a centre-right nationalist party of government is going to destroy our movement up here - and good luck getting the 12% lead you'll need to win a majority with the Scottish party taken out of the equation.

[mikey mikey]

Right now we need an effective opposition. Having "nothing to do with the SNP" is counter-productive to this end.

[The Red Arrow]

S*n pricks acting like pricks shocker!

Monday, 10 August 2015
Sun British Leyland Fail
http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2015/ ... -fail.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[youngian]

I'm sorry, I just can't get past the SNP thing. I know it's parochial of me. But I want a UK leader who'll be 100% supportive of Scottish Labour rather than giving the Nats ammunition like this.

Maybe when/if he's elected he'll come out swinging against them, pointing out they're a crowd of Tories etc. - I do hope so. Because treating their Westminster representatives as if they're revolutionary Socialists with whom he can do business and leaving us in Scotland to point out that actually they're a centre-right nationalist party of government is going to destroy our movement up here - and good luck getting the 12% lead you'll need to win a majority with the Scottish party taken out of the equation.

Its a question of whether the Scottish Labour leader will be 100% supportive of Jeremy Corbyn if he wins of whether Kezia Dugdale is going to be "carping from the sidelines". The only way I'd want to see Labour work with the SNP is on an issue by issue basis if there is a minority Labour government; are you going to back us or are you going to back the Tories? either way the Nats don't take any credit.

[Agnes]

Right now we need an effective opposition. Having "nothing to do with the SNP" is counter-productive to this end.

Right now, we need an effective opposition in the Scottish Parliament to a Scottish Government which is underinvesting in education and health, weakening local government and privatising transport infrastructure. Having nothing to do with the SNP at all levels of the party is crucial to this end.

As Abers said a few weeks ago, "we're not all jolly chums united in Tory-hating." Our aims and theirs are fundamentally different.

Its a question of whether the Scottish Labour leader will be 100% supportive of Jeremy Corbyn if he wins of whether Kezia Dugdale is going to be "carping from the sidelines".

The questions are linked. If Dugdale is being undermined by Corbyn people will be able to portray her 'carping' as valid - and they'll have a bit of a point. If he's backing her up then she'll have to return the favour or look like she's splitting the party deliberately. The left in the Labour Party up here is pretty strong.