Sorry. No.

I could've picked out any number of responses to @johnharris1969's excellent article. Nothing personal in my choosing yours, Anita - but so much of the online left is so wildly incoherent and hypocritical on all of this, it's unbelievable.
John warned about what was happening with the Red Wall - and no, it wasn't just about Brexit at all. It's about *values* and *culture*.

Because he actually speaks to lots of ordinary people, John knew that Corbyn, a London liberal, and reheated 1980s socialism wasn't the answer
Many of the Labour MPs most hostile to Corbyn were precisely those who represented Red Wall seats. For this, they were attacked constantly by pretty much all of us.

"Sit down, shut up, support your leader and ignore your constituents". Total contempt for parliamentary democracy
Yet John also knows that offering nothing whatsoever is a road to nowhere. I hate to break it to people - but between Corbynism and Blairism is a very large space.

Starmer was elected to fill that space. He's not doing so because he has no vision or ideas - at this stage.
Compromising with the electorate is, under both FPTP and PR, abundantly necessary.

But this ISN'T compromise. It's hollow, vacuous selling out. It's miserable and it will get nowhere.
I live in the vain hope that someday, people on here will stop viewing the entire bloody world as a binary choice.

"Us" v "them"

"Socialism or barbarism"

"This is your victory (in John's case, no it bloody isn't) so live with it"
In the many constituencies John's been to and reported from, socialism is a dirty word.

The tone deaf, arrogant beyond belief dismissal of that reality from people wedded to their comfort zones and dogma is a huge part of why we're in this mess.
Both of the following positions are held by much of the online left. Both positions are a complete joke.

1. "Corbyn inspired young people and built an incredible movement! It's all the fault of Starmer and the People's Vote!"

Young people are Remainers and felt betrayed by us.
Apparently, betraying them was *just fine* to all those unable to accept the consequences of doing so.

The complaint among far too many is, in effect, that they weren't betrayed even more than they already have been!
2. "We've lost millions and millions of working class voters since 1997 and we have to reach out to them. What about the Red Wall?"

Instantly followed by:

"Starmer's listening and reaching out to social conservatives? DISGUSTING! RACIST! Who does he think he is?"
In other words, those demanding we reach out to those lost working class voters aren't interested in reaching out to them at all. The very idea appals and repels them.

Again, John Harris has warned of the reality here for many years now. For this, he's been constantly attacked.
It's a nonsense. There's even someone on here who constantly highlights that 2019 was two decades in the making, then instantly complains about what Starmer's trying to do. It's nuts. He's only interested in his own comfort zone too.
Do I think it's possible to keep social liberals and social conservatives in the same tent? No I don't. I think a progressive alliance is an absolute no-brainer.

But you see, that'd involve lots of compromise too. Including with two parties loathed by Labour activists.
The SNP are loathed by Labour activists north of the border.

The Lib Dems are loathed by Labour activists south of the border.

And the Greens aren't exactly popular amongst Brexit-supporting or accepting activists either.
There's an element of pure comedy in how many on here apparently support a progressive alliance and PR... who can't even compromise in any way with others in their own party.

I support PR because I think it'll help us all grow up. But maybe some people just never will at all.
Plenty of people in the media have amply contributed to where Britain is now. John isn't one of them. He's almost been a prophet at times, in a way none of the London media, immersed in their hermetically sealed bubble, could ever be.
If the online left keeps viewing every single last person who isn't exactly where they are on all issues as some sort of enemy, not only will we keep losing.

We'll DESERVE to keep losing - because government is about the common good. Not satisfying some ideological minority.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Shaun Lawson

Shaun Lawson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @shaunjlawson

27 Jan
One of the things that really pisses me off about politics for anyone on the left is that anger should be important. Passion should be important. And it is on here.

But when it comes to party politics, it actually gets us - all those of us furious about injustice - dismissed.
It gets us dismissed as 'cranks' or 'trolls' or 'bullies' or 'loonies' or even, get this, 'racists'. It got Corbyn dismissed too: remember him being ridiculed for highlighting the plight of ordinary people in the Commons?

The *actual* bullies and racists were sat opposite him.
Jeering and gesticulating like a pack of braying hyenas as he tried to tell the country about what life was actually like for those the media tried to make invisible. Tried (and mostly succeeded) in disappearing.

Sweep sweep, nothing to see here: just hundreds of thousands dead
Read 8 tweets
27 Jan
One of the worst things about Britain's catastrophic failure over Coronavirus is that anyone who knew anything about Boris Johnson and the Tories KNEW that we would fail. KNEW we'd fail more than almost anywhere else. And KNEW they'd just lie about it and blame everyone else.
There's no hindsight involved here. It's the Tories: a corrupt, venal shower who've delighted in wreaking havoc and destroying millions of lives for 40 bloody years.

To all those who voted Tory: what the fuck did you expect? Goldfish learn more quickly than you lot.
I will always continue to note that the death toll from austerity - hundreds of thousands - resulted in so many of those who are appalled now, even grieving now, never batting an eye.

Britain became a sick, barbaric society long before Covid. And most people didn't care.
Read 16 tweets
26 Jan
Across the UK right now are millions of children. Stuck at home. Huge numbers stuck in abusive environments - or loving ones in which their parents have no idea how to teach, motivate or incentivise their learning.
Also across the UK right now are the consequences of 40 years of deepening inequality: which cuts greatly across racial lines.

Children of middle class parents are much more likely to be relatively insulated. Children of working class parents - especially BAME - are not.
Even in normal times, even outside a pandemic, social services are always stretched well beyond their limits by an appallingly derisory budget: which austerity, which attacked Labour councils much more than Tory ones, has only made much much worse.
Read 17 tweets
26 Jan
The problem isn't Kyrsten Sinema or Joe Manchin. The problem is the electorates in their two states, who they are elected to represent.

West Virginia, Manchin's state, voted Trump by THIRTY-NINE points. It's the second most red state in the entire US.
Arizona, Sinema's state, is still a naturally liberal Republican state even now. She's worked her way up bit by bit through the state House, then the US House, and finally the Senate - and she's done it by being a 'blue dog' Democrat. That's the only way she could turn it blue.
Centrist/centre-right states like Arizona elect centrist/centre-right politicians like Sinema or, in a different sort of way, John McCain. There's no mystery in that.

So if she supports breaking the filibuster, that's an electoral suicide note. As it would be for Manchin.
Read 7 tweets
26 Jan
- People who don't like animals
- People who don't leave tips
- People who act like bullies in restaurants
- People who don't treat their mother with kindness and respect
- People who sign text messages 'x' when they hardly know you (and I don't mean when flirting)
- Partners whose 'exclusivity' demands include you not seeing your friends regularly
- Partners who insist on joining you at all get-togethers with your friends
- Heterosexual partners who don't accept you having friends of the opposite sex
- People with cold, white anger
(Anger should be warm; if it's cold, there's a big problem, because it's completely isolating)
- People who automatically assume you'll pay the bill
- 'Friends' who want to split the bill if they've ordered loads and you haven't
- People who think 'success' is about their salary
Read 8 tweets
26 Jan
I'd accept this if Redfield and Wilton weren't crap, which they are. They failed at the US elections all over the place. Some of their projections were an absolute joke.
A quick rundown of how crap Redfield and Wilton - which 538 hasn't even given a rating yet because they're so new - truly are. The following are their last polls before the US election in various states.

Wisconsin Biden +12 (11 points out)
Pennsylvania Biden +12 (11 points out)
Michigan Biden +13 (10 points out)
Florida Biden +4 (7 points out)
North Carolina Biden +2 (3.5 points out)
Arizona Biden +4 (3.5 points out)

All the above released THE DAY before the election.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!