Jeremy Corbyn - Not Not Labour Party(?), not a Communist (BBC)

I happened to read the Standard after work yesterday - the attacks on Corbyn were from all angles, on most pages. Their other big scoop was that he’s ‘anti-festivals’ as they’d found a letter from him expressing concern that the Wireless Festival was disturbing his constituents. Osborne had clearly rubbed his hands with glee at the opportunity to attack Corbyn’s youth credentials...

Defenders of Corbyn are now being told they're too defensive - but when you look at the smears that come out every day it would be hard not to be.

Has everyone seen the Daily Telegraph article from yesterday reporting that they had a photo of Corbyn making the Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘terrorist salute’?

Well, dig a little deeper and you find it’s actually a widely used gesture adopted by Egyptian protestors opposing the Sisi regime and Rabat massacre and there are photos of the Nobel Peace prize winning Malala Yousafzai using it.

The trouble is that most people will just read the Telegraph headline and not look beyond it...

There will be posters here who’ll say he shouldn’t have been mixed up in this stuff anyway. I disagree - Corbyn is a public servant who has used his position to highlight the suffering of others at home and abroad. Isn’t that what public servants should do?
 
I happened to read the Standard after work yesterday - the attacks on Corbyn were from all angles, on most pages. Their other big scoop was that he’s ‘anti-festivals’ as they’d found a letter from him expressing concern that the Wireless Festival was disturbing his constituents. Osborne had clearly rubbed his hands with glee at the opportunity to attack Corbyn’s youth credentials...

Defenders of Corbyn are now being told they're too defensive - but when you look at the smears that come out every day it would be hard not to be.

Has everyone seen the Daily Telegraph article from yesterday reporting that they had a photo of Corbyn making the Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘terrorist salute’?

Well, dig a little deeper and you find it’s actually a widely used gesture adopted by Egyptian protestors opposing the Sisi regime and Rabat massacre and there are photos of the Nobel Peace prize winning Malala Yousafzai using it.

The trouble is that most people will just read the Telegraph headline and not look beyond it...

There will be posters here who’ll say he shouldn’t have been mixed up in this stuff anyway. I disagree - Corbyn is a public servant who has used his position to highlight the suffering of others at home and abroad. Isn’t that what public servants should do?

Dude. If you’re a believer in Corbyn why are you reading the Standard and the Telegraph? You’re only going to get wound up. Of course they’re going to slag off the leader of the Labour party. That’s what they do.
 
Why are people providing these polls as some kind of evidence things are going well. Worst, most divided govt in post-war history, about to drive the whole country off the cliff most people now don't want to drive over. 2 point polling lead in mid-term cited as "good news" for the opposition. It's a fecking joke.

Anyone who is a cheerleader of Corbyn should be absolutely fecking embarrassed by a one point lead here, two point lead there. Not promote them like it's anything at all to be proud of. Like boasting about winning the Sexist Paedophile award. Christ almighty.

But it's the new Corbyn normal.

- Finishing 2nd is the new 'winning'
- Failing to make significant gains in local elections is what oppositions now do
- Being marred in antisemtism and struggling to get message across is 'doing well'
- Within margin of error lead vs catastrophic govt in mid-term polling is considered going great guns.


All bullshit aside people would do well to reflect just how much effort has been put into normalising the above to the point where people genuinely see all of that as a positive. For me it's one of the only real achievements of his leadership, that expectation has been kicked so hard in the balls they now find some success in convincing people it's great news only one bollock is ruptured.

I know you’re tarred as anti-Corbynite numero uno so the faithful will ignore your post but you’re hitting the nail on the head. What does Theresa May need to do, exactly, for the Labour party to finally start polling like an opposition who is ready to oust the government? Kick some orphans to death on the front steps of Number 10?
 
I know you’re tarred as anti-Corbynite numero uno so the faithful will ignore your post but you’re hitting the nail on the head. What does Theresa May need to do, exactly, for the Labour party to finally start polling like an opposition who is ready to oust the government? Kick some orphans to death on the front steps of Number 10?

May is the weakest PM of the weakest government in living memory and is busy making an absolute horlicks of Brexit. If Corbyn is unable to build good numbers in a situation such as this then he is performing even worse than May. It is a national scandal that there is not a capable opposition at a time when it is needed the most. Corbyn is a total disaster for the country just as much as May is.
 
I know you’re tarred as anti-Corbynite numero uno so the faithful will ignore your post but you’re hitting the nail on the head. What does Theresa May need to do, exactly, for the Labour party to finally start polling like an opposition who is ready to oust the government? Kick some orphans to death on the front steps of Number 10?
But imagine if Corbyn had a slightly fairer press (ie: anywhere short of the daily lynching he’s getting from all angles) and had all his MPs united behind him.

That’s what is so difficult to understand - that there are Labour MPs apparently so idealogically opposed to Corbyn that they’d rather sabotage him and keep the Tories in.

There’s no question, for me, that without the smear campaign and disloyal Labour MPs he’d be ahead.
 
But imagine if Corbyn had a slightly fairer press (ie: anywhere short of the daily lynching he’s getting from all angles) and had all his MPs united behind him.

That’s what is so difficult to understand - that there are Labour MPs apparently so idealogically opposed to Corbyn that they’d rather sabotage him and keep the Tories in.

There’s no question, for me, that without the smear campaign and disloyal Labour MPs he’d be ahead.

Another way to put it would be if Corbyn's media team were more skilled at managing the press (and Corbyn himself was not totally incompetant and putting himself in situations that are an easy hit against him) and Corbyn was strong enough to gain the support of all his MP's then he would be in a much better place.
 
But imagine if Corbyn had a slightly fairer press (ie: anywhere short of the daily lynching he’s getting from all angles) and had all his MPs united behind him.

That’s what is so difficult to understand - that there are Labour MPs apparently so idealogically opposed to Corbyn that they’d rather sabotage him and keep the Tories in.

There’s no question, for me, that without the smear campaign and disloyal Labour MPs he’d be ahead.
Hit the nail on the head.

I’ve never seen the media so viciously attack the leader of the opposition - from the onset of him being elected leader he’s been vehemently hounded, calling him all sorts from terrorist sympathiser, Leninist, anti-Semite, an existential threat etc. Couple that to the fact you have a considerable core of his party trying to undermine him then you’d have to say he’s done well to garner a two point lead.
 
But imagine if Corbyn had a slightly fairer press (ie: anywhere short of the daily lynching he’s getting from all angles) and had all his MPs united behind him.

That’s what is so difficult to understand - that there are Labour MPs apparently so idealogically opposed to Corbyn that they’d rather sabotage him and keep the Tories in.

There’s no question, for me, that without the smear campaign and disloyal Labour MPs he’d be ahead.

He doesn't though, does he? And it's arguable that any left-wing Labour leader is going to.

So what are your options here? Blindly put your faith in the idea that these 'lynchings' are all entirely without basis and dismiss them out of hand (despite the fact that the most recent one, and several of the other ones, have had Corbyn bang to rights), or perhaps champion a candidate that shares Corbyn's values without the ridiculous amount of baggage which comes with Corbyn? I'm not at all convinced that they're having to dig very hard at all to find this dirt.

Shouting 'wah, wah, wah the press aren't being fair' doesn't make the fact that there's an awful lot that Corbyn has said, done, and been involved in, that the public have the right to know about and should have the chance to form their opinions on.
 
Happens to the best of us. Who hasn't accidentally placed a wreath on a terrorists grave? In Tunisia.

Get your head out of your ass. He laid a wreath on a grave.

I'll go as far as saying that if any person asked me to lay a wreath at a grave, I would.

If it turned out to be the rapist child molester murderer of 100 babies, I'd still feel that I acted authentically. I would not feel bad in any way, shape or form.

The media is pushing a saleable narrative. He laid a fcuking wreath.

People are punishing a guy for not being media savvy. Fcuk. That. Shit. There's a racist, misogynist that calls human beings dogs, with his finger on the button of a nuke right now. I'm not drawing a false equivalence.

I don't want my politicians to be media savvy. I want the media to be sensible, respectable, beyond reproach and not slaves to the bottom line.

Corbyn is a bit of a limp vessel. But he deserves less shit that the joke of a media we put up with.
 
He doesn't though, does he? And it's arguable that any left-wing Labour leader is going to.

So what are your options here? Blindly put your faith in the idea that these 'lynchings' are all entirely without basis and dismiss them out of hand (despite the fact that the most recent one, and several of the other ones, have had Corbyn bang to rights), or perhaps champion a candidate that shares Corbyn's values without the ridiculous amount of baggage which comes with Corbyn? I'm not at all convinced that they're having to dig very hard at all to find this dirt.

Shouting 'wah, wah, wah the press aren't being fair' doesn't make the fact that there's an awful lot that Corbyn has said, done, and been involved in, that the public have the right to know about and should have the chance to form their opinions on.

Absolutely right. Corbyn has a dubious past at best and it is coming back to bite him on the arse - that isn't the press hounding him - that is Corbyn being chummy with terrorists (some of which at the time were actively trying to kill British people).

Labour need to keep some of his policies and keep to the left as I think there is an opportunity for them there (and as a left-leaning guy I would like to see some of his ideas actually become reality) but they need to get rid of Corbyn and replace him with somebody who who is sympathetic to many of the ideas he is trying to push but without all the baggage as you said which is holding them back. We need Labour to be strong right now to hold the Government to account. What we do not need is Corbyn.
 
Remember the 6 months+ after May became leader and the media basically treated her as the second coming of Christ who would marry Tory competence with more left wing values?
 
Say what?

Yes. I said it. As part of an entire post.

Who was at fault?

He laid a wreath that honoured/respected dead people. I don't give a shit about Corbyn. I'm English, but don't live there. I don't have a dog In This fight.

[Do know that I'm not discussing the potential issues around funding]

If it comes out that the true nature of the trip was;

"Jeremy, please come out and lay a wreath at the faves of these 100 people, 17 of which were terrorists that killed 342 people"

Then yes, crucify him. But to my knowledge we are nowhere near that. If you can point me in the right direction to change my view, by all means do.
 
Absolutely right. Corbyn has a dubious past at best and it is coming back to bite him on the arse - that isn't the press hounding him - that is Corbyn being chummy with terrorists (some of which at the time were actively trying to kill British people).

Labour need to keep some of his policies and keep to the left as I think there is an opportunity for them there (and as a left-leaning guy I would like to see some of his ideas actually become reality) but they need to get rid of Corbyn and replace him with somebody who who is sympathetic to many of the ideas he is trying to push but without all the baggage as you said which is holding them back. We need Labour to be strong right now to hold the Government to account. What we do not need is Corbyn.

"Chummy with Terrorists" - Maybe I'm missing this. How? Why? When? That sounds like narrative.

Maybe the news isn't getting to me. But what are the facts here?
 
This is JC's own doing. He needs to get a more media savvy team and buy the same influence Israel and the Tory party are buying to bring him down. It's no point having the Guardian and the independent on your side, you need to buy some of the crooked red-top editors. Stuffed envelopes win elections just as much as ballots do.
 
Absolutely right. Corbyn has a dubious past at best and it is coming back to bite him on the arse - that isn't the press hounding him - that is Corbyn being chummy with terrorists (some of which at the time were actively trying to kill British people).

Well it depends what you mean by 'hounding him'.

We all know that the press in this country is overwhelmingly right wing, and as a result they're going to be more interested in going after the left wing leader of the Labour party than the right wing leader of the Conservative party. That's just the reality of where we are as a country and the landscape that we're in politically. If people are comfortable calling that 'hounding' him then fine.

What doesn't follow is that if and when they find dirt you can then dismiss it by going 'fake news, smear, witch-hunt' or whatever bit of Trump's playbook you're borrowing from today. I've said this before, but there is absolutely no way Corbyn supporters would have let – say – a Boris Johnson off with an excuse of 'I didn't look at the mural I commented on'. Nor would a Conservative MP have been given the benefit of the doubt changing their story three times about why there were at an event like this current standard.

If Labour are being held to higher standards then fecking reach those higher standards rather than wallowing around in the mud with the rest of the cnuts.
 
"Chummy with Terrorists" - Maybe I'm missing this. How? Why? When? That sounds like narrative.

Maybe the news isn't getting to me. But what are the facts here?

He was close to the IRA in the 1980's and spoke against the Anglo-Irish agreement at the time. He also spoke in support and rememberance of IRA members at a time when they were actively trying to kill people. That is just one example.
 
Another way to put it would be if Corbyn's media team were more skilled at managing the press (and Corbyn himself was not totally incompetant and putting himself in situations that are an easy hit against him) and Corbyn was strong enough to gain the support of all his MP's then he would be in a much better place.

It’s not about how he manages the media though. The right wing press will never report on him fairly until he is prepared to compromise with them and make the sort of cosy deals politicians usually make. Why else is Dacre having dinner with May, if not to influence policy?

Corbyn’s popularity has been down to the fact that people see him as someone who won’t compromise on his beliefs... a politician that can’t be bought is something of a rarity.

Unfortunately, the media are still able to do a fair bit of damage to his chances of being elected... hence why he isn’t polling far ahead like he probably should be. Having said that, their impact lessens by the day because people start to see through it... especially younger voters who are less reliant on traditional media. He has been getting hit with negative stories on an almost daily basis since taking the leadership - many of which are just plain false or ridiculous. After a while, it becomes like the boy who cried wolf. They are now turning him into Teflon... and they keep throwing stuff at him, but it just won’t stick because they’ve lost all trust.
 
He was close to the IRA in the 1980's and spoke against the Anglo-Irish agreement at the time. He also spoke in support and rememberance of IRA members at a time when they were actively trying to kill people. That is just one example.

Ok. You wrote it as if the 'actively trying to kill people' was linked to the Tunisia trip.

Will read into the IRA stuff before discussing further.
 
Yes. I said it. As part of an entire post.

Who was at fault?

He laid a wreath that honoured/respected dead people. I don't give a shit about Corbyn. I'm English, but don't live there. I don't have a dog In This fight.

[Do know that I'm not discussing the potential issues around funding]

If it comes out that the true nature of the trip was;

"Jeremy, please come out and lay a wreath at the faves of these 100 people, 17 of which were terrorists that killed 342 people"

Then yes, crucify him. But to my knowledge we are nowhere near that. If you can point me in the right direction to change my view, by all means do.

He's an elected MP. He should know what he's doing in situations like this, otherwise he should expect to face big criticism for it.

He's supposedly very well versed in the history of these conflicts so he has no excuse.
 
It’s not about how he manages the media though. The right wing press will never report on him fairly until he is prepared to compromise with them and make the sort of cosy deals politicians usually make. Why else is Dacre having dinner with May, if not to influence policy?

Corbyn’s popularity has been down to the fact that people see him as someone who won’t compromise on his beliefs... a politician that can’t be bought is something of a rarity.

Unfortunately, the media are still able to do a fair bit of damage to his chances of being elected... hence why he isn’t polling far ahead like he probably should be. Having said that, their impact lessens by the day because people start to see through it... especially younger voters who are less reliant on traditional media. He has been getting hit with negative stories on an almost daily basis since taking the leadership - many of which are just plain false or ridiculous. After a while, it becomes like the boy who cried wolf. They are now turning him into Teflon... and they keep throwing stuff at him, but it just won’t stick because they’ve lost all trust.

The right wing press always give the Labour leader grief, that is nothing new. Why the outrage when they do it to Corbyn?
 
But imagine if Corbyn had a slightly fairer press (ie: anywhere short of the daily lynching he’s getting from all angles) and had all his MPs united behind him.

That’s what is so difficult to understand - that there are Labour MPs apparently so idealogically opposed to Corbyn that they’d rather sabotage him and keep the Tories in.

There’s no question, for me, that without the smear campaign and disloyal Labour MPs he’d be ahead.

You're referencing the Evening Standard and Daily Telegraph as examples of this "smear campaign". Feck it, why not include the Daily Mail too? Because all of these publications have been doing their best to crucify whoever is in charge of Labour for most of the last century (probably even longer?) If that level of "sabotage" is enough to derail Jezza's campaign to be the PM then maybe Labour need a new leader?
 
Remember the 6 months+ after May became leader and the media basically treated her as the second coming of Christ who would marry Tory competence with more left wing values?

Again with this "the media" as some sort of amorphous mass. The right-wing media fecking love the Tories, the left-wing media don't. Where Corbyn kind of treads new ground is by repeatedly putting his foot in it to the extent that traditionally left-leaning papers like the Grauniad end up putting him under scrutiny too (the anti-semitism stuff)
 
This is JC's own doing. He needs to get a more media savvy team and buy the same influence Israel and the Tory party are buying to bring him down. It's no point having the Guardian and the independent on your side, you need to buy some of the crooked red-top editors. Stuffed envelopes win elections just as much as ballots do.

The Mirror have been positioning themselves as the anti-Sun for a while now. They're a red top just waiting to throw themselves behind a Labour leader who could be seen as a serious threat to the Tories.
 
This is JC's own doing. He needs to get a more media savvy team and buy the same influence Israel and the Tory party are buying to bring him down. It's no point having the Guardian and the independent on your side, you need to buy some of the crooked red-top editors. Stuffed envelopes win elections just as much as ballots do.

Which is what Blair did but Corbyn is content with the #wearehismedia nonsense i.e. talking to themselves.
 
Which is what Blair did but Corbyn is content with the #wearehismedia nonsense i.e. talking to themselves.

Yeah it's utter nonsense. Imran Khan learnt that on the 2013 elections in Pakistan. This time round he spent huge amounts of private media channels and newspapers to buy advertising and have anchors invite their people onto the shows etc, get into people's living rooms and thoughts for the right reasons!
 
Again with this "the media" as some sort of amorphous mass. The right-wing media fecking love the Tories, the left-wing media don't. Where Corbyn kind of treads new ground is by repeatedly putting his foot in it to the extent that traditionally left-leaning papers like the Grauniad end up putting him under scrutiny too (the anti-semitism stuff)
I’d hesitate to call the Grauniad a genuine left wing paper, in recent years at least anyway. You’ll find an abundance of progressive columns on progressive tenets such as feminism and climate change but they’ve become more distorted with partisan politics. They backed the Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2010 and have always endorsed Corbyn’s Labour opponents at his expense on account of him not appealing enough to the centre ground.

They even recently wrote a frankly nauseating article blaming Green Party voters in the States for Trumps victory because they had the audacity not to vote for Hillary feckin Clinton.

Yes it’s still the go-to paper for vegan recipes and guest pieces on how to be a stay at home dad, but I wouldn’t dignify it to be a genuine left wing paper in a political sense.
 
And all it took was a promise to not investigate Hillsborough.

The mere presence of Corbyn has people so rattled that they're actually calling for a politician to get into bed with Murdoch :lol:

Using the media to your advantage doesn't have to involve the compromising of morals in such a way. Shunning the media completely is foolish.

It does amuse me though, knowing that you've been hanging around this thread waiting for the moment you can throw one of your Tony Blair zingers out.
 
Using the media to your advantage doesn't have to involve the compromising of morals in such a way. Shunning the media completely is foolish.

It does amuse me though, knowing that you've been hanging around this thread waiting for the moment you can throw one of your Tony Blair zingers out.
You're the one who cited him as an example of what to do. I mean, there is a chance that you just forgot to mention him helping cover up Hillsborough for the best part of another decade, in fear of upsetting his beloved friend Murdoch and were going to mention it in your next post. But, just in case, I thought I'd do it for you.

I love the idea that all Corbyn needs to do is cuddle up to these cnuts in the media and they'll definitely not turn their back on him when he wants to tighten tax loopholes or implement Leveson 2. And they sure as shit wouldn't want to influence any other policy in return for their endorsement.
 
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I’d hesitate to call the Grauniad a genuine left wing paper, in recent years at least anyway. You’ll find an abundance of progressive columns on progressive tenets such as feminism and climate change but they’ve become more distorted with partisan politics. They backed the Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2010 and have always endorsed Corbyn’s Labour opponents at his expense on account of him not appealing enough to the centre ground.

They even recently wrote a frankly nauseating article blaming Green Party voters in the States for Trumps victory because they had the audacity not to vote for Hillary feckin Clinton.


Yes it’s still the go-to paper for vegan recipes and guest pieces on how to be a stay at home dad, but I wouldn’t dignify it to be a genuine left wing paper in a political sense.

Anyone
in the States who didn't vote for Hilary Clinton is partly to blame for the Trump victory, so that's a poor example of the Grauniad's allegedly crappy editorial policy. They're definitely left-leaning anyway and it's a massive fecking stretch to pitch them as anti-Corbyn when they publish a new Owen Jones piece blowing smoke up his arse on an almost daily basis.
 
Get your head out of your ass. He laid a wreath on a grave.

My post was a light-hearted response to a quite ridiculous statement. How could someone inadvertently lay a wreath? In Tunisia.

Congratulations on missing that in your desperation to protect dear Jeremy's honour. Furthermore, congratulations on writing something even more ridiculous than the post I replied to:

I'll go as far as saying that if any person asked me to lay a wreath at a grave, I would.

If it turned out to be the rapist child molester murderer of 100 babies, I'd still feel that I acted authentically. I would not feel bad in any way, shape or form.

You're on a roll champ!

Side note - I've got a wreath I was hoping you wouldn't mind laying for me. That's cool yeah? Meet me in the Libyan desert and I'll point you in the right direction.
 
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"Chummy with Terrorists" - Maybe I'm missing this. How? Why? When? That sounds like narrative.

Maybe the news isn't getting to me. But what are the facts here?

Depends who you consider 'terrorists'. He has literally described members of Hamas and Hezbollah as 'friends', shared stages with them, etc.
 
This is JC's own doing. He needs to get a more media savvy team and buy the same influence Israel and the Tory party are buying to bring him down. It's no point having the Guardian and the independent on your side, you need to buy some of the crooked red-top editors. Stuffed envelopes win elections just as much as ballots do.

Or Labour could get rid of Corbyn and put in someone who doesn’t give its enemies so many easy, easy targets. He is unelectable. One day enough Labour members will realise all this time wasting, energy sapping nonsense is a poor substitute for actually being able to wield power, and move him aside.
 
My post was a light-hearted response to a quite ridiculous statement. How could someone inadvertently lay a wreath? In Tunisia.

Congratulations on missing that in your desperation to protect dear Jeremy's honour. Furthermore, congratulations on writing something even more ridiculous than the post I replied to:



You're on a roll champ!

Side note - I've got a wreath I was hoping you wouldn't mind laying for me. That's cool yeah? Meet me in the Libyan desert and I'll point you in the right direction.

Read the rest. And the rest after that. You ridiculous knobber. I'm not a Corbyn fan. At all.

I have a clear line of sight through the whole thing.

Yes. I could be wrong. I'm an expat in NZ, on holiday. I've asked other posters for more info, openly and admitted I'm happy to be wrong.

Your post was ridiculous. I wrote something even more ridiculous, but authentic.

Again. If someone asked me to lay a wreath on a dead persons grave, I will. It sucks that anyone is dead. If I later find out that the grave was a dispicable person, I'm ok with that. MY actions would remain authentic. The requestors actions would be wrong.
 
Depends who you consider 'terrorists'. He has literally described members of Hamas and Hezbollah as 'friends', shared stages with them, etc.

Got a link or topic I could read? Something lengthy? Save me hunting one down.
 
More fake outrage about from the British establishment about a wreath.

It’s about what the wreath symbolises, and his shifty response, as if he knew what he’d done and resented being held to account for it.
 
Or Labour could get rid of Corbyn and put in someone who doesn’t give its enemies so many easy, easy targets. He is unelectable. One day enough Labour members will realise all this time wasting, energy sapping nonsense is a poor substitute for actually being able to wield power, and move him aside.
This is always fun. Who are you thinking?

Also, I adore the line that he's unelectable but everyone who says he needs to be replaced want him to stand aside so they don't have to run against him.