tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post114297327220397434..comments2023-10-25T12:49:50.074+01:00Comments on The Old Socialist Unity Blog - we have moved: Mr Livingstone againANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901425044840795347noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143471916900752032006-03-27T16:05:00.000+01:002006-03-27T16:05:00.000+01:00I am happy to go along with the idea that Ken is n...I am happy to go along with the idea that Ken is not actually an anti-semite. But he is prepared to help out if they are short-handed, it seems.<BR/><BR/>The language of sending people back "where they come from" is so linked to organised racism that Livingstone could not have made that comment without knowing what he was saying. He wass neither born yesterday, nor is he stupid.ANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901425044840795347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143469004862347972006-03-27T15:16:00.000+01:002006-03-27T15:16:00.000+01:00"Time the Left stopped looking for "leaders" and s...<I>"Time the Left stopped looking for "leaders" and stood up on its own feet."</I><BR/><BR/>Totally agree, Livingstone always had problems in my view, but these all pale into insignificance since he became Mayor.<BR/><BR/>Personally his worst behaviour has been his support for head of police Blair over the shoot to kill policy. It's just turns my stomache.<BR/><BR/>But I also think we should be careful what we criticise people for and don't start seeing the world as goodies and baddies and grabbing at 'any stick to beat a dog' (as the charming saying goes)Jim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143421112580215552006-03-27T01:58:00.000+01:002006-03-27T01:58:00.000+01:00Considering some of the people Livingstone and his...Considering some of the people Livingstone and his chums have been hobnobbing with people might think they were under the ayatollahs.<BR/>I don't think Livingstone is an antisemite, but he is emerging as a right dickhead. Maybe it is the job. All those posters and other piexces of publicity signed "The Mayor of London". Must take it out of you having to do everything personally. Londoners were conned into thinking we might get elected city government. It's a crap set up, this figurehead touting for big business, but Livingstone seems to love it. <BR/>Personally I didn't want the Olympics, or the stadium at Wembley, big white elephant that will prove a nuisance as and when it opens. I don't like the policies of sucking up to business, or bread and circuses(not much bread mind) for the masses. I don't like a man who brings a congestion charge then invited Formula 1 to regent street in the rush hour.<BR/>I've defended Livingstone against Board of Deputies and Simon Wiesenthal Centre (what do they know they supported Arnold Schwartzenegger for godsake!) But it's time the labour movement in London woke up and rid itself of this loud-mouthed pillock and his team of overpaid "advisers" that nobody elected, too. Time the Left stopped looking for "leaders" and stood up on its own feet.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03706356192920588519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143129558273914382006-03-23T15:59:00.000+00:002006-03-23T15:59:00.000+00:00To change the emphasis slightly.These two web site...To change the emphasis slightly.<BR/><BR/>These two web sites (both are real and not a wind up) explain why any sensible person avoids London :<BR/><BR/>http://www.belowzerolondon.com/icebar.html<BR/> <BR/>http://www.danslenoir.com/london/ANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901425044840795347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143120684578590742006-03-23T13:31:00.000+00:002006-03-23T13:31:00.000+00:00True, true - individuals can use their isolation (...True, true - individuals can use their isolation (as Benn and Galloway have in their own unique ways) or they can try to combat it as Serwotka has done - to good effect.<BR/><BR/>One problem with the Benn's and Galloway's of the world is that they a) rely on their own judgement, which could be very wide of the mark on any particular occasion, (see Livingstone) and b) if they do something well it doesn't necessarily translate as a stronger movement only a stronger personal standing in that movement.<BR/><BR/>Now I think that Benn and Galloway are great people who are rightly admired, but what does it do in, say, the anti-war movement whose strength was its <B>diversity</B> to raise any particular person (and therefore political strand) above the others. It begins to boil the movement down to its component parts - weakening it - despite the fact that one individual's profile has increased.<BR/><BR/>For example, the Green Party in my town include among its number some people who have done a great deal of anti-war work and one of them was on the stwc steering committee - but now they view stwc activities as Respect electoral work and don't support them, go to them, engage with them in anyway... and whatever criticism you might have of these greens for doing this it is a bad thing to have happenned that is a direct product of the push towards the idea of <I>important people</I> who are <B>leaders</B> of the movement (and therefore <I>our</I> leaders, no matter what differences you may have with them)so to support the movement becomes (in the minds of these people) support for these individuals.Jim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143114708212647532006-03-23T11:51:00.000+00:002006-03-23T11:51:00.000+00:00I would say that the remarks about the Reuben brot...I would say that the remarks about the Reuben brothers are grossly anti-semitic - as I am now convnced he did say it - and the Labour Party should take disciplinary action, to force him to retract them.<BR/><BR/>I agree with Jim that the isolation of "famous" individuals is a product of opur general wekaness. But Livingstone is also partly to blame for his isolation, as his adminsitratiuon in London has been unnecessarily cautions, and although (God be praised!) I don't live there and don't speak from personal expereince, it is hard to see what he has done for working class Londoners, and would Frank Dobson have been any worse?ANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901425044840795347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143113828083787782006-03-23T11:37:00.000+00:002006-03-23T11:37:00.000+00:00There does seem to be a point where belligerance i...There does seem to be a point where belligerance in itself becomes a handicap... but part of this problem is not that Livingstone is gaff prone (I'm being polite here) but that so much weight is put upon what one individual says so his gaffs actually have an impact.<BR/><BR/>In the absence of a strong *movement* we are left with reliance upon famous individuals who have zero accountability, and know it.<BR/><BR/>It seems to me the answer to this is not just greater accountability for these individuals but a reassertion of the ideas that the leadership is the base of the movement and those elected to represent us have to come to heel.Jim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143036590104718262006-03-22T14:09:00.000+00:002006-03-22T14:09:00.000+00:00I think the Evening Standard are being extra cauti...I think the Evening Standard are being extra cautious because of their 'relationship' with Livingstone, but a quick browse of the news sources on line shows that hardly anyone has taken this story up... which is interesting in itself.Jim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143026818337478882006-03-22T11:26:00.000+00:002006-03-22T11:26:00.000+00:00The only caution I have is that he may not have ac...The only caution I have is that he may not have actually said it.<BR/>I note that the Evening Standard only reports that he "apparently" said it, though the BBC actually attributes it the remark to him without qualification.<BR/>It will be interesting to see how his press officers reract, so far they have only said they are "aware of the reports"ANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901425044840795347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995284.post-1143018332788289232006-03-22T09:05:00.000+00:002006-03-22T09:05:00.000+00:00It certainly isn't a public relations triumph for ...It certainly isn't a public relations triumph for Red Ken.<BR/>I don't understand why he adopted such an intransigent attitude in the first place to the Standard. All he had to say after the Oliver Fimgold incident was a politicians apology: that he was "sorry that Finegold had been offended"ANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901425044840795347noreply@blogger.com