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That centrist, softly-softly approach won’t work in the long term because it’s pushing a completely outdated policy prescription of magical market fantasy. I do hope the change in narrative and policy happens after the election, but without any real opposition, it’s not clear to me that they will change very much.
Agreed but a couple of headlines from the Daily Mail or Express on how dangerous the left is and a lot of those thinking of punishing the tories will jump back again. It feels like there's a period of delivery needed from the left. Governing sensibly, no dramas, peoples lives starting to improve. With that underway, you earn the right to move into more radical policies.
As you say though, there's a chance they won't move further left. I'd still take it 100 times out of 100 over more of the current shower of cunts.
Soul-
Agreed but a couple of headlines from the Daily Mail or Express on how dangerous the left is and a lot of those thinking of punishing the tories will jump back again.
Yeah it's all about messaging and a kind of quiet radicalism, which does mean they need to be careful not to be too easily categorised as the traditional 20th century left. That's probably what Labour think they're doing, but I don't think they meet the threshold.
It feels like there's a period of delivery needed from the left. Governing sensibly, no dramas, peoples lives starting to improve. With that underway, you earn the right to move into more radical policies.
Definitely, although the difficult prospect for this is that a period of calm governance doesn't look likely to be able to increase living standards to a meaningful degree. It might just temper the decline in some of the worst parts of our economic lives, which as you say is preferable to this clusterfuck, but not sufficient either.
Anyway, probably worth waiting for the manifesto at this point!
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As you say though, there's a chance they won't move further left. I'd still take it 100 times out of 100 over more of the current shower of cunts.
Here in Oz, before the last election when it was obvious the conservatives would get the boot, we were telling each other how the Labor leader grew up in a housing commission joint with a single mum, and obviously we'd emerge into the sunlit uplands.
Turns out the sleazy fuck is leading the most blatantly sold-out bunch of right wing corporate lapdogs to ever call themselves a Labor government.
Which he can totally get away with after following our worst PM ever... So yeah. Have fun with that Starmer feller, who isn't even bothering to seem slightly leftish. Maybe don't let your hopes get too high...
slippers
Kimmo
A slightly softer radicalism would be welcome, and may actually be able to galvanise support from younger people and those on the left more broadly, rather than low-turnout apathy.
There’s a bunch of soft economic left Conservative voters who value the environment highly too who would respond well to less centrist policies as long as they don’t hit certain socialist talking points (hence some of the shift to the Greens from Conservatives).
That centrist, softly-softly approach won’t work in the long term because it’s pushing a completely outdated policy prescription of magical market fantasy. I do hope the change in narrative and policy happens after the election, but without any real opposition, it’s not clear to me that they will change very much.