The Dictatorship of the Etonariat

[Serial_Apologist]

Most people agree with you MrGongGong. It's simply silly to try to overturn capitalism as Mr Corbyn and his deluded followers seem to wish. As my old dad (a real Labour supporter) used to say From the dawn of time someone bought a mummy and daddy chicken at a market, sold its eggs and gradually built up a business and started to employ people thereby creating and spreading wealth. Those who support Corbyn tend to be the intelligenstia who have had no experience of the world as it is - and who may therefore escape the suffering that his politics would cause.I don't blame them for their innocence, but wish they could apply their wonderful intelligence to providing real solutions. It is an irony that should escape no-one that the Labour party, as it has now become, presents a bigger threat to a fair society than even the repulsive Tories. It is the working classes who will suffer the most under Corbyn - and hardline Corbynistas have already factored this in by denying that the working classes actually exist! We need a capitalist system to create the wealth alongside a socialism that ensures the wealth is fairly distributed. I'm not entirely persuaded by the Lib Dems yet, but they are growing in strength and seem to be the only ones who deserve the votes of those who believe passionately in a just and fair society for all.

That's a good satirical post - based on it you should easily get a job with the Daily Mail, Daily Express, the Sun or the Telegraph. You have to do better than that though, if you are to convince your late father, who as a real Labour supporter would remind you that the so called newspapers who pedal all this unsubstantiated stuff about Corbyn wanting to overthrow capitalism were and always have been propaganda sheets for the Tories. As a loyal member of the intelligentsia, I would be delighted were he or anyone else in the business of overthrowing capitalism; as it is I know that a whole organised movement of labour would need to be involved for that to happen, the likelihood of which doesn't seem very probable 30 years on from the Thatcher government's dismantlement of the wealth creating manufacturing sector and permanent ruination of whole communities north of Watford. In fact, as anybody will tell you, the intended incoming Corbyn-led Labour government's plans are in fact not dissimilar to those of the postwar Attlee government, a real Labour government which your dad, as a real labour supporter, would have helped vote in.

[Dave2002]

Lip-readers supporting both interpretations were found at the time.

That is interesting. According to some reports I just read again, most professional lip readers went for the "stupid w******" interpretation, but having looked at it again, I'm not sure.

This article from the time doesn't seem unreasonable - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46619689

I saw the original debate live, and I really did think that he did say "stupid woman" - though now the ony thing we can say with some reasonable certainty is that he did call someone or some group stupid. Not very flattering, but not necessarily a direct personal attack.

I also thought that a modicum of explanation and/or apology at the time would have defused that fairly easily, but he didn't seem willing to do that.

[Bella Kemp]

That's a good satirical post - based on it you should easily get a job with the Daily Mail, Daily Express, the Sun or the Telegraph. You have to do better than that though, if you are to convince your late father, who as a real Labour supporter would remind you that the so called newspapers who pedal all this unsubstantiated stuff about Corbyn wanting to overthrow capitalism were and always have been propaganda sheets for the Tories. As a loyal member of the intelligentsia, I would be delighted were he or anyone else in the business of overthrowing capitalism; as it is I know that a whole organised movement of labour would need to be involved for that to happen, the likelihood of which doesn't seem very probable 30 years on from the Thatcher government's dismantlement of the wealth creating manufacturing sector and permanent ruination of whole communities north of Watford. In fact, as anybody will tell you, the intended incoming Corbyn-led Labour government's plans are in fact not dissimilar to those of the postwar Attlee government, a real Labour government which your dad, as a real labour supporter, would have helped vote in.

On the whole I agree with you serial apologist. We share the same views - well, not the bit about my getting a job with The Sun et al! - and it's just a pity that Mr Corbyn has divided us and split our party. Clement Atlee was a noble and great leader, but that was the politics of seventy years ago. It's time to make a fresh start.

[Joseph K]

teamsaint was referring to himself, no?

[MrGongGong]

teamsaint was referring to himself, no?

Probably

My misreading .... corrected by deletion

(though my comment about the "real world" still stands for those who read it before it went )

[oddoneout]

I have no interest in the ideologies and principles are easily shed when it suits, but I can't help feeling that it's time to let Labour have a go at running the country. They won't make a better job of it, but at least it'll be a slightly different(possibly) mess, and it would then be possible to compare the realities of the binary apology for democracy. At the moment it's all speculation, and as far as this cynical voter is concerned there seems very little difference between the two parties in many respects - leaders who destructively split opinion, deepseated internal differences, country comes third in the line-up after party and self interest.

Labour's spending plans can't be funded seems to be a common criticism - well I can't see where Messrs Johnson and Javid are getting the billions they are currently bribing the voters with, and the only plan behind it is life support for the Tory Party.

[LMcD]

I didn't realize that 'Eton Mess' referred to a form of (non-)government. In my innocence, I thought it was something you could order to follow your main course.

[cloughie]

10 years of austerity budgets
10 years of stagnant wages.
A housing crisis for the young.
National division over Europe.
Several appalling military interventions.
An unexplained productivity problem.
Disastrous underfunding of local government.
Essential services sold off , often to non uk businesses.
An infrastructure crisis UK wide.
Skyrocketing education costs for young people.

Etc etc etc.

Nothing to do with Corbyn, everything to do with Tories. Lib Dems, and Blairite policies.

Corbyn , if elected, will be the one sorting out their mess.

( Not from a member of the “ intelligentsia with no experience of the real world” , but from someone who has spent almost their whole working life at the sharp end of the real world of business)

[Richard Barrett]

it's just a pity that Mr Corbyn has divided us and split our party.

He has of course been elected as leader twice with large majorities. The only "split" really is between the membership and the MPs, in particular those who were installed during the "New Labour" years during which they were proud to have nothing at all in common with Attlee's reforming government.

[Bryn]

No, not that Athena but Leo Varadkar's massive put-down of the current UK PM in Dublin yesterday. Respect!

[Dave2002]

I didn't realize that 'Eton Mess' referred to a form of (non-)government. In my innocence, I thought it was something you could order to follow your main course.

Maybe it tastes different if you don’t whip the cream.

[LMcD]

Maybe it tastes different if you don’t whip the cream.

I was going to award the 'Crack Of The Week' trophy to the young tennis player until I read this!
What's been (not) happening on Parliament has, thanks to the Old Etonians, been pretty Harrowing for the rest of us.

[Bryn]

I was going to award the 'Crack Of The Week' trophy to the young tennis player until I read this! . . .

More craic than crack, surely?

[LMcD]

More craic than crack, surely?

'Laughter is the best medicine'. Rarely has this been more the case.
The people who are REALLY going to suffer are satirists, as they surely can't come up with anything to match the shenanigans of recent weeks, topped off as they have now been by the awarding of honours to those who helped the previous PM fail to achieve her principal objective.
'No Brexit means gongs'.

[Dave2002]

More craic than crack, surely?

Now I’ve learnt a new word!