Why Labour is haemorrhaging

Whoops! I meant only one Scottish Labour MP. There used to be rather more.

Am I missing something?
thatbags you surely cannot mean it when you say Labour only has one Westminster MP

Who are all those people I see on the opposition benches then?

Labour lost a lot of votes in the last election, blue. It now has only one Westminster MP, for instance. That counts as bad bleeding in my book if not haemorrhaging.

Frankly, I thought the article was miles off the mark.

For a start, Labour isn't haemorrhaging. That would imply it is either losing members or votes. It now has a record number of members, and to sneer at those who have joined because of Corbyn makes no sense. Of course people will join a party if they feel strongly that the leader is expressing their views, and will leave if they feel disillusioned. (Unless you think thousands of people across the country are engaged in some sort of left-wing conspiracy, in which case you are beyond rational argument!) As for votes, we won't really know until a General Election. A third of Labour voters opting to Leave means nothing as far as support for the party is concerned. None of the parties have been wholly for or against the EU, and there have always been Labour supporters, on both wings of the party, who have wanted the UK to leave. It would be equally simplistic to assume that a Tory voting for Brexit was simply voting against Cameron or for Boris. I'm actually quite surprised that two-thirds of Labour voters went for Remain, given that the issue cuts across party politics.

As for "swathes of Labour MPs" failing to understand their core constituents, I'd say that most of them think their voters hold conservative values, hence their determination to emulate Tory policies in a milder form and their panic at having an actual socialist at the helm. Whether they are right or wrong remains to be seen. I remember reading a survey, a couple of years ago, which found that the general public were actually more radical than the political parties on most issues except immigration. Unfortunately, the Leave campaign centred on immigration, which should have given them a pretty easy win. Surprising, really, that they only managed a winning margin of less than 4%, given that migration is such an emotive issue.

POGS do you mean like soontobe and obieone?

????

thstbags, is there wan't a need no one would have mentioned it,

Lazigirl , I have problems remembering names of those who post regularly without agonising if a new poster is an old poster with a new name

Hello, lazigirl. I've read a few of your posts

Who mentioned a need to, ab?

Good grief. You regulars are getting paranoid. I find as a relative newcomer most posters just ignore me anyway. Am happy with that - Chill everyone.

But POGS, you are engaging with another poster , that's it surely

It doesn't matter Anniebach but when there is a 'possible' change of user name or a new member so clearly following a poster in a certain manner I find it interesting.

I think there is an acceptance we post between us as a group of people who have established certain protocols, established a certain amount of understanding as to how we view other posters, assess what type of character those we choose to respond to may be like.

When a new user name starts his/her posting in a manner that is showing well known similarities, posts in a manner that shows a knowledge of other posters I wonder whom I am actually going to possibly engage with.

Why the need too thatbags?

Why is it wrong? Especially if it's easy so it just becomes clear rather than being sussed by deliberate effort.

Surely it's wrong to suss out posters ? Are we not equal with the right to leave and come back, come as a new poster , choose our user names, change our user names ?

Yet more naive and ingenuous posts/questions made the identity of one recent name-changer obvious but I haven't sussed daphne.

Thank you Daphne , so really - know your place

Anniebach clearly a probationary period must be served before one is allowed to comment on members who fail to answer when asked to explain or comment on their posts.

No rosesarered they are not. As I said there is a long history of right wing, conservatism in the working classes that has sometimes swung as far as fascism. Labour needs to emphasise its core values of equality, opportunity, internationalism and cooperation. These are the things it was founded and built on speaking out against right wing views has always been part of this. If it needs to pander to the Alf Garnetts it may as well cease to exist. Oh and Alf Garnett was never a labour voter staunchly Conservative!

I am curious, what difference does new or not new poster make ?

It is easy to work out who she is POGS. The name that is missing and the one who follows me around on a regular basis.

Easy to get impatient cross (?) when one is referred to as one of those posters

DaphnBroon

May I ask are you a new member? .

My reason for asking is I have a feeling you are getting very cross with Obieone on various threads and it is unusual for a new member to be so critical of another poster so quickly.

I apologise whole heartedly if you have been a member for a while, I have only noticed your User Name recently hence my asking.

trisher the Labour voters you speak so disparagingly of ( Alf Garnett) are the very electorate that Labour needs to win any future GE.

Accidental gong there, obieone of course. Maybe you're hoping for one though