tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post8992633974177359714..comments2024-03-17T00:10:44.022+00:00Comments on From Arse To Elbow: TerrorismDavid Timoneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-73704623018490547532015-12-22T16:59:42.461+00:002015-12-22T16:59:42.461+00:00Mason is prone to romanticise social movements (so...Mason is prone to romanticise social movements (so the SNP get a free pass despite being neoliberal chancers), but I think he is spot on in suggesting that it is the centre that is currently vulnerable to fragmentation and realignment. He doesn't mention it, but the LibDem wipeout is as significant as the decline of Pasok and the attempt by Spanish neoliberals to inflate the Ciudadanos life-raft.<br /><br />I suspect this is one of the many factors currently driving the "hysteria of the moderates". Of equal pyschological import is the growing despair among those of a similar vintage to Corbyn, such as Polly Toynbee, at the realisation that the scruffy upstart has a better claim to embody their nostalgic social democracy than the besuited PLP, and that the latter are now so flaky you couldn't rule out a "Reg Prentice".David Timoneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-9046621079540565052015-12-22T14:57:31.528+00:002015-12-22T14:57:31.528+00:00The link is that terrorism depends on the inventio...The link is that terrorism depends on the invention of a "people" whose interests legitimise the actions of the terrorists, and this is found in the centre as much as at the political "extremes". <br /><br />The current centrist trope of the "moderate mainstream" is as much an invention as the "silent majority" or the "respectable working class". The latter has enjoyed a sentimental revival recently as a way of regretting the slowing of social mobility while carefully avoiding the role of centrist politicians in bringing it about (e.g. the failure of the PLP to support the miners).David Timoneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-859011216304337662015-12-22T12:23:24.078+00:002015-12-22T12:23:24.078+00:00When mainstream political analysis is so superfici...When mainstream political analysis is so superficial and the opportunity of political change so remote, it is inevitable that even the least inquiring minds will resort to conspiracy theories to explain the current status quo. <br /><br />On the cultural side, you're quite right that Arthur Seaton and Joe Lampton are hardly representative of working people, and are effectively the more selfish side of the rebellious 'Angry Young Men' of the 1950s literary scene. On the other side of that there is Vic Brown of 'A Kind of Loving', who is frustrated by the parochial mores of small-town Yorkshire, but rejects his draughtsman's career to take on an insecure, low-paid job in a local shop where he can pursue his love of music and independence from routine and hierarchy. That's even before we bring the likes of Billy Casper into the equation...<br /><br />I suppose the question is whether the working-class will actually die out before working-class cliches do??!!!! Igor Belanovnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-62766231475955236102015-12-21T20:06:35.082+00:002015-12-21T20:06:35.082+00:00Not wanting to take over, but just to add, Paul Ma...Not wanting to take over, but just to add, Paul Mason <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/21/podemos-europe-political-centre-radical-left-nationalist-right-spain-anti-austerity-party" rel="nofollow">has some interesting things to say</a>. In particular:<br /><br />"If you accept this, the question becomes: what would a non-neoliberal centrist socialism look like? But it’s a question few in the core socialist parties of Europe are prepared to ask. It challenges not only the leaders, but the footsoldiers – the apparatchiks who quit Labour HQ over Corbyn; the Blairite journalists mobilised across the newsrooms of Britain to do him down; the councillors who would rather he did not exist."<br /><br /><br />gastro georgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-73744685244491523832015-12-21T19:03:47.463+00:002015-12-21T19:03:47.463+00:00@HDTE - Correct about PR. Hyman's piece was t...@HDTE - Correct about PR. Hyman's piece was typically Blairite in its use of vacuous feelgood phraseology and utterly devoid of meaningful policies. Rather like the Anybody-But-Corbyn candidates. They still seem to think that this is enough - a bit of random airbrushing.gastro georgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-87761672727862341562015-12-21T18:18:16.063+00:002015-12-21T18:18:16.063+00:00Hyman is a PR consultant; he simply wants to rebra...Hyman is a PR consultant; he simply wants to rebrand the product, which is already obsolete.<br /><br />This was the case in Spain. The ruling class and the establishment looked at Greece and asked, how can we challenge this movement? The answer let us rebrand the centre left but change nothing of its character. In the West socialist party now means a barrier to progressive movements. The last roadblock of the establishment. It has come to replace fascism as the protector of last choice. Of course in a society where branding is a cultural norm, this will probably have some initial success.<br /><br />Social mobility will be the rise of the developing nations in relation to the advanced ones. Instead of the average Western consumer spending 20% of his income on food, while the average Chinese or Indian spends 70% on food, the % will re-balance, converge. <br /><br />In the West social mobility simply means how tossed off your job is or which job will you be tied to for life, the cushy one or the one requiring lots of hard effort! I like the communist idea of people a challenge to the division of labour, not so much social mobility as social fluidity, I need a PR person to come up with a better term!<br /><br />By the end of the article I kind of lost where this linked to terrorism but this is another word for the PR men.Herbie Destroys the Environmentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-51559526493068370552015-12-21T18:10:36.078+00:002015-12-21T18:10:36.078+00:00I'm trying to remember which blog has likened ...I'm trying to remember which blog has likened the unreformed Blairites to a cult (it may be yourself) - Hyman certainly displays all the signs of a "true believer" in his piece - one of the Observer's now routine spreads.<br /><br />Somebody also pointed out that Nougayrede's obsession with conspiracy theories also elaborated its own conspiracy theory.<br />gastro georgenoreply@blogger.com