It is possible that nobody outside the United Kingdom has noticed that we have been going through a very lengthy and painful process: the election of several party leaders. So far we have done with the Liberal-Democrats and with the Scottish Labour Party (in Scotland three of the main parties are now led by women so one can only wonder what John Knox would have made of that) and are still without a national Labour Party leader. Members of the Scottish Labour Party may have voted for their leader but they are also voting for the national one. Much to everybody’s astonishment the front runner by a long way is Jeremy Corbyn, a hitherto little known extreme left-wing MP, who still holds economic and political views that had been shown to be useless and harmful by the 1970s and cannot possibly be relevant to the modern Britain, who consistently supported the IRA and whose buddies in other countries are, without exception, tyrannical, bloodthirsty, Islamic fundamentalist, anti-Semitic and, in some exceptional cases, Holocaust deniers. In a couple of weeks he may well be the Leader of Her Majesty’s no longer loyal opposition. The mind boggles.
Ah yes, we are told by people who support him and others who hastily add that they do not, he has principles and that is very attractive in the modern unprincipled political world. Needless to say, many of the people who say this scream abuse at the very mention of Margaret Thatcher’s name and yet if ever there was a principled politician, it was she. On the other hand, as all politicians in democracies she also recognized that other people had other ideas and principles, even people in her own party, and their support, too, was necessary.
My own view is that just having principles is hardly sufficient. One needs to know what those principles are and, in the case of Jeremy Corbyn, they are devastating for this country and our Western allies. Let me just add that as a little known and long ago sidelined backbencher, Mr Corbyn has, until now, achieved nothing in his political career. He has made speeches and appeared a great deal on Russia Today and Press TV as well as public platforms that he shared with various terrorists and other jolly people listed above. One cannot help wondering how those principles will stand up to the realities of party leadership.
Here is my blog on the subject that might be of interest to American and other readers.
And here, the most recent poll on Hillary shows that the most common term applied to her by all voters is “liar.”
Yet, she leads the Democrats by a lot. Maybe this just means the voters are going bonkers while the chasm yawns beneath them.
I will be in Britain in two weeks and we plan to go to Belgium, avoiding the Chunnel and its riots. We cancelled Greece at some cost as it is now overrun with African Muslim “migrants. ” Over 150,000 since June 1.
we plan to go to Belgium
Belgium’s cuisine is great. It’s a perfect mix between the best of France and northern Europe. But it can be quite dangerous, erm, sorry, I meant “vibrant”, in some parts of Brussels.
I’ve always suspected that having to announce you have principles is like saying over and over again that you have class, or that you are a lady/gentleman. If you have to tell people you are … than you probably aren’t.
Corbyn does look like a nice piece of work. Swap him for Hillary?
“But it can be quite dangerous, erm, sorry, I meant “vibrant”, in some parts of Brussels.”
We are going to spend some time at the Waterloo Battlefield and, perhaps, at a few WWI battlefields. We will be with friends.
One needs to know what those principles are and, in the case of Jeremy Corbyn, they are devastating for this country and our Western allies. Let me just add that as a little known and long ago sidelined backbencher, Mr Corbyn has, until now, achieved nothing in his political career.
Good thing we could never elect a president of that sort here. BTW, I’ve noticed the visceral Thatcher hatred among the UK leftists. She must’ve been really effective in dismantling their policies and institutions for them to hate her that way. We could use someone like that.
Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.
Groucho Marx
“…who still holds economic and political views that had been shown to be useless and harmful by the 1970s and cannot possibly be relevant to the modern [Britain]”
I loooove this sentence. I’m going to create a keyboard shortcut for this sentence and insert it after every Leftist I mention. Excellent.
Belgian cooking can be wonderful but one needs to cultivate a considerable tolerance of cream. Restaurants often have a particularly fine list of Burgundies.
If I may say so, be sure to enjoy the beer – of which they have an infinite variety of good ones – and do try the chips at every opportunity – eaten with mayo, and quite superb.
Oh, and it’s best not to drive. They are unspeakably bad drivers, awesomely awful.
And if you have never been there, try hard to visit Bruges/Brugge – a wee jewel of a city.
“Having principles” in politics is the same sort of half-empty compliment as “being a fighter,” as they are now saying about Trump. It provokes an immediate “Yes, but…” in more objective minds.
Jeremy Corbyn is the paradigmatic politician of the Labour Party. He should be its leader from now until he dies. The Labour Party should stop pretending it is anything other than Leninist party.
“It is possible that nobody outside the United Kingdom has noticed that we have been going through a very lengthy and painful process: the election of several party leaders.”
Helen – I’ve written several posts on Corbyn, most recently,
here.
(If I am wrong in what I have been saying about him, I’d appreciate you letting me know.)
On the general question of politicians and principles: Most politicians in the United States and, as far as I can tell, in Britain, have ideologies, which are, simultaneously, theories about how the world works, and how it should work.
None of those ideologies is a perfect theory, though a few are better than others. A politician who refuses to modify his or her ideology when experience shows that part of it is wrong is absurd out of power, and dangerous in power.
They can’t be confused by facts; their minds are made up.
I’d say, to take the two most obvious examples, that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are unlikely to be confused by mere facts, and that Jeremy Corbyn is an almost pure case, that he can ignore almost every fact that doesn’t fit his theory.
I will grant that Jeremy Corbyn has principles. So did Lavrenti Beria. I suspect that they are not dissimilar in principles. While I have accepted the suicidal behavior of the American electorate, I have gone beyond that when considering the Brit electorate. It may be the different cultural framework, but they frequently seen Chiroptera-feces crazy and suicidal.
I saw commentary to the effect that Corbyn was sufficiently pro-Communist and anti-West, NATO, and British that as Labour leader he could not be trusted with intelligence briefings. But then again, we have an entire administration that are actively traitors over here; so I can’t talk. I think perhaps the wisest advice may come from a former advisor to Gordon Brown:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/stock-up-on-canned-food-for-stock-market-crash-warns-former-gordon-brown-advisor-10469509.html
Except, being statutorily and constitutionally disarmed, British efforts at stocking up mean that you are gathering supplies for those who are willing to violently take them.
“And if you have never been there, try hard to visit Bruges/Brugge – a wee jewel of a city.”
Thanks for the advice. It is on our route from Dunkirk. The friends will be driving and hopefully can negotiate the others on the road. Nothing can be as bad as Rome.
We were going to take the Eurostar but that was before they decided to go and show us around. Now, it is having delays due to the “migrants.”
He is a retired RA colonel and I have done other trips with him and his wife. I showed them California a few years ago and I think they want to reciprocate.
From Richard Fernandez: