EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Theresa Villiers was utterly useless as Sectretary of State in Northern Ireland.

Didn't engage at all with people or community groups/charities. Not sure that's your mums experience with her, but perhaps it'll convince her to not vote/vote LibDems for once?

both would be true if britain was a rainy fascist island no? ie corbyn will transform the UK* into a mainstream moderate social democracy, the like of which are commonplace across the EU

*scotland already part way there

was on the phone to my mum #

I get round discussions with my mum by talking about Kier Starmer (swoons) instead of Corbyn... I think he's singlehandedly made tactical voting for Labour an acceptable discussion point in my place. Not an acceptable thing to do, mind, I doubt we'll ever get there.

I think Labour's cakeism on Brexit is causing trust issues among some Remain voters. Though many will vote tactically or be happy with a confirmatory ref.

If Labour would publish their proposed plan, and be honest about the economic costs I think it will help restore some trust. I still hope they do well of course.

The election in North Belfast (Nigel Dodds, blegh) is going be fun, SDLP/UUP both stepped aside. SF voters are happy with their sniping from the sideline, -some- DUP voters may simply not vote due to Brexit (their stance has been quite unpopular). I think an empty seat is better than Dodds, but perhaps Alliance (the NI libdems, who got their offices attacked several years ago over FLEGS) now also has a chance.

Isnt the general theory that everyone is a born ‘liberal’ but as they get older and the confirmation biases get stronger and wealth is accumulated everyone becomes a tory?

Outside M25 that is.

Mum and Dad both Irish, so this is my last best hope, my folks are very much Remain and think this current batch of Tories are pretty useless but are always harking back to the Labour gov of the 1970's and put Corbyn in that camp.

Other than working for political goals (such as energy security, less reliance on fossil fuels, customer accessibility) rather than simply profit growth for shareholders?

I'm not saying either is true. I'm just saying both can't be true at the same time.

I think Cozey is correct, and depending on perspective, both can be true.

Britain, in most ways, is much more (neo-)Liberal than the rest of Europe. The changes which would bring it in line with the more progressive social democracies on the continent would be transformative for Britain but in many cases quite mundane elsewhere.

On the other hand (or from another perspective), a lot of people who have a vested interest in the state maintaining its current course will see Corbyn as a radical, and from their position, this is probably subjectively true. But these people are a minority and shouldn't be allowed to dictate the narrative.

A lot of people just don’t like the idea of more socialism.

Yup, and a lot of people also like the idea of more socialism. Mostly because I want some of damnit's money.

Won't you also have to share the car servicing costs though?

I'll let Richie do that. He seems to find that sort of stuff "fun."

want some of damnit's money.

We all do.

mainstream moderate social democracy, the like of which are commonplace across the EU

I'm afraid you won't find many of those in Europe at the moment. Portugal is the most prominent example, and then what?

The traditions certainly exist, but the vast majority of European governments at the moment, and for the last 40 years, are distinctly not social democrat governments. When I moved to London in 1994, I was shocked by the level of inequality I saw; in the meantime, Germany has 'caught up' and is by some measures worse than Britain (still better by some measures, but not by much).

I do hope the tide is turning, and it would be assisted by a Corbyn election win, because whatever your political colours, if you assume (as I do) that in politics no side knows everything, you need a change of political direction now and then.

I find that is usually used as some kind of ‘you’ll vote conservative when you grow up’ put down.

Well yes.

Yup, and a lot of people also like the idea of more socialism. Mostly because I want some of damnit's money.

I have to give a presentation on Friday in London whilst also being in a meeting in Rotterdam with a client - can you do one of those for me? If so, your dreams can come true.

Labour didn't use underhand tricks and literally beat the miners off the street, so if they want to compare the performance of political parties, well...how far back do they want to go? :)

I can give any variety of presentations on all topics, so long as they are about digital methods and/or early modern history.

As you can imagine, I'm cleaning up on the speaking circuit.

It'd fit right into "digital methods of communication", and the material is based on primary research.

Serious question:

renationalisation

To answer the last question first, it won't.

As to the broader point, imo the challenge with renationalisation will be defining what the aims are and sticking to it.
As I see it you have two broad camps;

1. those who don't agree that what are ostensibly public services (i.e. water) should be owned by private companies distributing profits to shareholders instead of directly into the public purse.
   
2. those who view certain services as a quasi-right that should be managed in accordance with a set of principles as part of wider social engineering. - i.e. public transport
   
   

(camp 2. would also agree with camp 1. but the starting point/objective differs)

One thing likely to be different this time around, vs post war is you would assume renationalisation to be on a European (or Chinese) model of State Capitalism as that has been shown to work, rather than setting up a load of hopeless government run agencies with no experience.

It also depends on what you are talking about renationalising. As I understand it, rail can just be allowed to lapse as each franchise comes up for renewal. A sensible policy would to start by only doing this with the shit ones. But you would still need a State run company to operate it.

I think the point I was trying to make - rather badly, I have to admit - is that you can't have it both ways.

The point was perfectly clear.

I think there's also camp 3, which is probably the one that's being targeted most:

1. Don't really care who runs it but the current service is shit and maybe nationalisation will fix it.
   

A bit about how electricity and gas would be structured:

https://www.labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Bringing-Energy-Home-2019.pdf