Bastani is a chancer. But if we allow him to poison the well, to create disagreement on the Left where there should be none, that's also on us.
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Replying to @JolyonMaugham @WasiqUK
You are a trustee for a conservative think tank who has unrelentingly attacked Labour, the left and Corbyn for two years. I had to double check this wasn’t a parody account.
36 replies . 180 retweets 907 likes -
Replying to @AaronBastani @WasiqUK
I am not a trustee, I have not attacked the Left, and my opposition to Corbyn date to when he challenged for leader (almost four years ago). So, entirely characteristically, you are pretty much wrong on everything.
10 replies . 8 retweets 43 likes -
Jo - I have no issue with you opposing Corbyn back then. He was a leap in the dark. But haven't you at least been surprised by his effect on Labour: transforming its membership, resources, ability to mobilise - and most of all, its electoral power?
4 replies . 0 retweets 17 likes -
I think he's turned a Party that would have crushed this shambles of a Government into one that could well itself be crushed when the Remain votes that went to it in 2017 desert it. But I also think he is a populist with little to offer in policy terms. And a dangerous ideologue.
18 replies . 9 retweets 44 likes -
Replying to @JolyonMaugham @shaunjlawson and
Jo uses the old so-called Elites trick of using populism perjoratively here. It's debatable whether Populism is a distinct ideology; but in any case many parties in a democracy have populist policies, characterized as those which prioritize interests of the many against elites.
2 replies . 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @Fertweetssake1 @JolyonMaugham and
Jo conflates populism with demagoguery, which serves the elites because it demonizes reasonable policies. Socialism & populism often overlap as both understand the interests of the masses & those of elites are different, & the state must legislate to mitigate power imbalance.
2 replies . 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @Fertweetssake1 @JolyonMaugham and
I have a MAJOR issue with populism when it promises the undeliverable, in the name of dividing one group against another. That's why I'm a Remainer. But there is nothing undeliverable about Labour policies. The reason they're called 'populist' is austerity psychosis.
3 replies . 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @shaunjlawson @Fertweetssake1 and
But by the same token I have a major problem with 'elitism' which demonises populism by casting it as the politics of envy, ignorance and desperation. [As an aside, I voted remain but have now switched to leave. The status quo is broken.]
1 reply . 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @Stringybark2000 @Fertweetssake1 and
This is entirely fair comment. And the more elitists do that, the more out of touch they become.
1 reply . 0 retweets 1 like
Before Corbyn became leader austerity was the orthodoxy and socialism was a heresy. Think back to that awful decision by Labour to abstain on the welfare bill. Elites didn't give a flying fuck until they realised that Corbyn was resonating with people's lived experiences.
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