Interview with a socialist

Corbyn has been interviewed.  An important question, which I am glad was asked, was about The Green Party.  Corbyn did answer it, but I am not sure I agree with his answer.  In the interview, Jeremy Corbyn states that The Green Party are not a socialist organisation.  It is a shame that there was no follow up question on that, notably, what he disagreed with when it came to their election manifesto from last year. Many who were dissatisfied with Labour before the last election complained about being politically homeless, but none answered me when I asked why they did not vote green.

I now think that unless an electoral pact is made with The Green Party, a split in the left wing anti-Labour vote may actually benefit Labour in seats which they lost such as Bristol.  But, it is a few years until the next election.  Corbyn is a decent human being. What you see is what you get with him. He is open and transparent with his views. But, Labour under Corbyn was riven by infighting and toxicity, something that The Greens have largely avoided, and that may mean that the Greens may be able to overtake the initial apparent lead that the new party has over them. 

It will be an interesting few years, or rather, an even more interesting few years till the next election. 

Are Labour and Starmer complicit in the horrors of Gaza?

Two wrongs do not make a right.  The atrocious attacks of Hamas do not justify the collective punishment of the population of Gaza through starvation.

Many people, myself included, want our government to do more to solve the crisis in Gaza.  Like it or not, our ability to speak out on this is limited by our need for trade with the USA, but, by not taking a harder line on what is happening, has meant that Trump appears to have listened to Starmer, at least until he got back to the USA and was told something else.  

The UK has taken some actions before and has offered to recognise Palestine.  But while many want the UK to talk about what is happening in Gaza, the UK, along with other nations, is planning to take action to try and limit the huge harm that is taking place. The aid drops will not meet the needs of the population of Gaza, but there is no other way for the UK (and allied nations) to deliver the food and water that Gaza needs.    

Personally, I would rather the UK fed the people in Gaza rather than just said strong words like Ireland and Spain.  Saying that, I would also rather that no strong words were needed and that Israel is sanctioned by the rest of the world until the Christians and Muslims in Gaza and the West Bank are treated properly.

It is a shame however that among the voices calling for restraint by Israel, one of them has referred to space lasers, and no doubt, this will be used by those saying that Israel should have a free hand to deal with the Palestinian problem.

What is in a name?

There is a new kid on the block when it comes to left wing politics. But it does not have a name. Yet. Despite this, many have signed up to it. I still do not know why it is being formed when there is The Green Party. My daughter says it is because too many people see them as a one issue party, but there is a lot of overlap when it comes to the two parties. 

With the start they have had, I suspect that all they will do is to split the votes of those to the left of Labour.  The votes they take away will harm Labour in elections, but it looks like Reform UK are going to win the next election anyway. But while Reform UK are organised, the party with no name do not appear to have that skill.

The left can be prone to infighting. Will the new party be as toxic as Labour was under Corbyn? Only time will tell if they follow the vision of Corbyn for kinder politics, or resort to the bile and hatred that cursed Labour before. 

A trip away for my daughter

My daughter has returned to France, she is back where she was this time last week. My wife and I dropped her off after the morning dog walk. We first drove to Langham to pick up a friend of hers who is also going, and then it was to Stansted.  Our dog came, though our son stayed at home in bed.

After it was a drive to East Bergholt for lunch and then we returned home to recharge. Right now, we are watching The Summer I Turned Pretty with my son, he was only able to watch some of it on Sunday. 

Patriotism is a good thing

Our diverse football team won Euro 2025 defending their title. When it comes to patriotism, we should remember how our nation has been multicultural for a long time. It is through diversity that we gain strength, and those who cannot accept diversity want to make our nation weaker. 

The demonstrations in Epping have been taken over by too many members of The Far Right. While I do think stronger action is needed to prevent people crossing the channel, I do think that this should involve international cooperation on how refugees should be dealt with along with who should qualify for asylum. Most importantly, we need safe ways for people to come here.

British values are why people risk death to get here. British values reflect our multicultural history. And British values are diverse and due to this, will be contradictory. When I think of British values, I think of democracy, tolerance, resilience and how our nation has welcomed refugees throughout our past. Talking about this is important as it should be left to those who wish to make our nation weaker to own the area on patriotism.  There are so many images that reflect how patriotism is not a bad issue, as well as images of how there is diversity when it comes to what people consider to be British Values. 

 

The Summer I Turned Pretty

The family are together and the dog loves it!  I collected my son on Saturday from his grandparents and later took him to see my mother.  Before then, I had collected our dog who was very happy to see me and ecstatic to see my son, however, she was a bit delicate, which is understandable considering it has been two weeks without us.  So she spent Saturday night in our room (my wife and I) keeping me company.  She did whimper and woke me up when she trotted downstairs, I presume to check no foxes were trying to break in and kill me, and then woke me up again when she got back.

My wife drove back from France and when she and my daughter arrived, we were all happy that we were back together.  As a family, after the two travellers had time to rest, we watched The Summer I Turned Pretty, the third series. I had watched the two before with my son, while my daughter had watched it with my wife.  

Needless to say, I ranted a bit.  All in the house know I am not a fan of Belly (Jeremiah can do better), but to be fair, as my daughter pointed out, she has been a lot better in this series.  Anyway, it is great that we are all back together.  The house seems whole again.

Starmer and Palestine

There is a lot of pressure on Starmer to recognise Palestine. I suspect the reason he has not is trade with the USA.

Since my last post on Israel, the violence against Christians and Muslims is continuing and the crisis with food is worsening. A soldier who was involved in distributing aid with the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has spoken out against the murder of civilians. Macron has stated that he will recognise Palestine as a nation, Starmer is under pressure to do so from his own parliamentary party and Israeli politicians openly discuss ethnic cleansing. 

But, doing so will anger the USA, and thanks to the nightmare of Brexit, the UK needs trade with it more than France does.  Starmer has managed to strike up a surprisingly good relationship with Trump (for now) which may benefit the economy, and if so, economic growth may follow.