MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Corbyn crushes MPs challenge and is confirmed as undisputed Labour leader
Left-winger Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected British Labour leader on Saturday, seeing off a challenge from MPs but leaving the main opposition party split as critics said it was even further from power than before. Supporters in Liverpool leaped to their feet cheering as the 67-year-old was confirmed winner with 61.8% of the vote among party members and supporters, easily defeating challenger Owen Smith. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAll the labour MPs will return as they cannot do any “ work ” apart from talking. Who would give them “ work ” anyway, bunch of tossers will do anything for money. All egomaniacs the lot of them.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 11:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0Either split or accept you won't be in power until late 2020s!
Sep 26th, 2016 - 11:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0Labour will be voted into power within 25 years...
Sep 26th, 2016 - 12:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 3 HughJuanCoeurs
Sep 26th, 2016 - 12:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ah! But the question is: when does the 25 years start!
:o)
Lets hope he and his evil little troublestirring trostkite commie supporters never do. He and his beliefs would be the end of Democracy and Freedom in the UK - and certainly within a short time we here in the Islands would have to be learning Spanish or looking for another country to call home- he made that plan quite clear some time ago
Sep 26th, 2016 - 12:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Jeremy Corbyn is, apparently, a mild mannered, quiet sort of person but he is, of course a 'champagne socialist' living 50 years in the past and as such is probably totally unelectable.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Tim Farron = liberals united [ LU]
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Jeremy Corbyn - labour united [ LU ]
Together they will be a right pair of LULU's
Corbyn was voted in by the Labour party members who are the only people eligible to vote for a leader. If the sitting MP's don't like it, they can resign and face either re-selection or the wilderness.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The party will have to re-unite or disappear. The crunch will come at the next election. The voting public will either support Corbyn and Labour party policies or they will not. Anything can happen in the next 4 years.
In the meantime we need a credible opposition party to curb what may be Tory policy excesses.
I can remember the furore of Brown being made PM.....nobody voted for him.
The same can be said for May....nobody voted for her and she is pushing through her Grammar school -( for England)- legislation although it was NOT in the Tory manifesto.
What we need just now is a clear policy on Brexit on which the country can agree.
Go Corbyn!
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A glimmer of hope for the U.K. and the world.
You DO have a sense of humor
Sep 26th, 2016 - 02:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@9 It really isn't, Enrique. In the U.K. the majority of people are either too wealthy or too aspirational (think they will be wealthily) to ever support Corbyn's brand of politics. All this has done is weaken the opposition. I prefer when we have a robust opposition.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 02:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@9 Enrique
Sep 26th, 2016 - 03:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0When I was 18 I knew the answer to all the world's problems but of course as I have got older I have come to realise that I know an awful lot less than I thought.
The fundamental problem with socialism is that ignores the fact that humans are aspirational, acquisitive greedy monkeys. Nothing will change that, it's in our genes so the concept of 'each according to his abilities, each according to his needs' is a dead duck and always will be.
If we are honest with ourselves we will see that outside our 'troupe' we couldn't really give two f...s for the rest of the world. The Americans (?) have an expression that sums it up perfectly “I'm all right Jack” and if you have some concept of a great global human family then I am afraid you are kidding yourself. It is a myth, a miasma, wishful thinking on a grand scale.
#12
Sep 26th, 2016 - 04:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No Darragh, British.
There was also a film of the same name released in 1959 starring Peter Sellers
The RN equivalent is “pull up the ladder Jack, I'm in the dinghy”
Go Corbyn!
Sep 26th, 2016 - 05:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A glimmer of hope for the U.K. and the world....
And an example through his whole life that we human beings are indeed aspirational.... on things more important than money and figuration...
Poor labour party actually think that their membership is reflective of the opinion of the public.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 05:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The clever MP's will just keep quiet and keep drawing their salaries, knowing full well they don't have a hope in hell of forming a government.
UKIP will clean up with the labour vote in the north as Corbyn is distinctly disliked up here.
So am i right in thinking its labour party policy for unlimited immigration, giving up our nuclear weapons and abandoning our overseas territories.
Yeah, that's going to go down great up north!!!
The latest ICM poll gives the Tories a 15 point lead over Labour. With Labour's inbuilt 3 point electoral advantage gone (with the loss of Scotland) and with a likely 20-30 seat nett loss vs the Tories in the upcoming boundary changes - then Labour could face a wipeout in 2020 that would take at least 2 cycles to recover from. This is unhealthy for politics in the UK as it means the Tories are now free to act more recklessly than they would if they knew there was a credible alternate government breathing down their necks. At the very least it is hugely entertaining watching adults claim that the reason Brown & Miliband lost for Labour was because their swings to the left were too small whereas a massive leap to the left is what is really needed. This is anti-logic. If you don't like me when I slap your face then why on earth will you like me when i kick you in the bollocks? Of course Enrique and Think are conditioned to drool when anything with a clenched fist and a Che t-shirt rings a bell.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 06:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@8. Oh dear, a “socialist”. I always take the view that the Labour party is best somewhere in the opposition and worst when it is in office. It was, after all, set up as a protest organisation and it certainly has no idea about how to be responsible when in office. The SNP are much the same, but have a nationalist “bent” as well. Are there examples? Yes. There's “Two Jags” Prescott. There's the Labour “policy” of borrowing to spend on things that can't really be afforded but are popular. Then leaving someone else to sort the problem out. And how is the SNP the same? Despite knowing its income, it has already managed to achieve a £15 billion deficit. And I remember, when the British government gave £15 million for flood relief, Sturgeon said that aid would be given to families that had suffered. Up to £12 million!
Sep 26th, 2016 - 06:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@9. Actually, “Go Massot”! In fact, I'd be prepared to help cram you into the spacecraft myself!
@12. Strangely, the saying is of British origin. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I%27m%20all%20right%20Jack! So it dates back to the days of sail.
@15. You forgot to mention borrowing loads of money, spending it on Corbyn 70s-style vanity/popular projects and then leaving someone else to sort out the mess.
They say, they want to spend 250 billion on the UK,
Sep 26th, 2016 - 07:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0and today it was suggested that the EU will put up some of the cash, but they don't seem to have asked them yet,
and the rest from the Bank of England's printing ready cash machine,
Did not labour nearly bankrupt us the last time they were in office,
and if the British people were ever to vote them in, can we expect the loon's to do it again,
after all the hard work and austerity measure's
surely the last thing we need is to vote for the party with an addiction to spending other people money to run things,
just my humble opinion.
And Brown sold all our gold for peanuts.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 09:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#17
Sep 26th, 2016 - 09:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh dear...a capitalist.
If it had not been for the “socialist” labour party then we would not have had the NHS....I suppose you would have objected to that also.
The Blair government were Thatcherism mark 2 .... certainly NOT socialism.
As for the SNP I don't know what their policies are.
I presume you do not believe in democracy. The Labour party members voted for Corbyn. You will have vote at the next national election where you can decide, along with the electorate, which party you wish to form the government.
I see you did not mention the vanity project of the HSR which will benefit whom and cost God knows how many billions. There is also the dodgy nuclear plant on your S.coast. There is no guarantee that the reactor will work as designed and we are paying a huge ransom for this. All good Tory policies and as for the destruction of our armed forces.....enough said.
As an aside, I replied to Darragh at #13.
The only part of the UK that will ever be Socialist in the next 9 years, possibly longer, is... Scotland. With full control of taxes Wonder Woman is going to soak any earner and spend their cash on the feckless.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 10:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As for dodgy nuclear sites, Dounreay, and Hunterston!!! How Old?!! How far from Ayr and Dunoon?
Ah, have to say I chuckled when I read it, thought of this forum - the inevitable rants, wasn't disappointed.
Sep 27th, 2016 - 01:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0I remember not so long ago in here Corbyn had been written off, finished.
You all seem very well versed on trivia about Britains left, and commie-nism, socialism, the SNP and basically anything that isn't conservative.
But, for bonus points - who here knows the origin of the 'Tory' name (no googling), I know at least one of you in particular really *should* know.
@22 What you are failing to understand is that in the U.K. the majority do not join a political party or 'team'. The hardline supporters do but they are small in number. Elections are won by the middle ground voters and I cannot see the far-left politics of Corbyn appealing to them. I don't think it is good for a country when there is not a strong opposition challenging the party in power.
Sep 27th, 2016 - 06:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0Elaine - you are quite right! My local MP was a great supporter of our continuing membership of the EU so my wife and I decided we would join the local Conservative Party.
Sep 27th, 2016 - 07:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0To my dismay, I was told they weren't recruiting local members as local support at the time of General Elections was so strong it wasn't necessary!
#21
Sep 27th, 2016 - 09:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hunterston is about 30 miles from AYR and I visit the area regularly to check on the Peregrines breeding on the adjacent cliffs. There is a huge amount of work on the site to dec0mmission Hunterston A reactor with the other two coming off-line by mid 2020. As with all nuclear sites there are problems.
Dounreay was a present from the Westminster government as it would only affect a few thousands if it blew up and it's spread of radioactive contamination on it's beaches would be of no concern to anyone in England as they have their own problem at Calder hall/Sellafield.
The difference between the OLD nuclear power plants is that they had no plan for their decommissioning and have probably been worked to death...pardon the unfortunate turn of phrase.
The Hinkley point plant is already obsolete and hugely expensive.
We are relying on the French for the technology and the Chinese for the money AND will be paying over the odds for the electricity produced.
If the same money and effort was put into wave, tidal and wind power we would be self sufficient and GREEN.
@13 Clyde
Sep 27th, 2016 - 02:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thanks for that I wasn't sure it was American hence the (?). I think I may have been confusing it with the American word HiJack.
@22 Vestige
I assume you mean me and yes I do know the origin of the word without googling.
@22 Vestige
Sep 27th, 2016 - 11:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0ElaineB is right; Corbyn's hardly electable when even his own MPs don't support him. The Labour party is still split which means the current bunch of incompetents will be in power for even longer and have even less reason to moderate their policies. All quite depressing.
I didn't know where 'Tory' came from, it's quite a surprising meaning actually.
@25 Clyde15
Unfortunately renewable sources in their current stage of development just aren't enough to power a densely populated country like Britain. Wind and wave have the problem of being dependent on the never-reliable weather and most tidal schemes that I have seem would have a big impact on the ecosystem as they involve damming an estuary.
Nuclear power is at least green from the point of view of global warming, even if not from a waste disposal perspective. Besides, we are already buying a significant amount of electricity from France, generated there by nuclear power. It's not necessarily any worse having the power stations ourselves, although I don't know if this one is a good investment or not.
#27
Sep 28th, 2016 - 10:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0This may apply in England as you do not have a great deal of coastline, with most of it being on the east coast and at the English channel.
In Scotland, we have plenty of coastline which could be exploited for tidal power generation without damming any estuary. As to the weather, well just now we are into a series of Atlantic gales with winds of 60/70 mph...nothing unusual up here. Wins and waves no problem.
My point was that if the same money is put into research and development for wind and wave/tidal power, then it could become a viable means of power generation.
There have been trials in the Pentland Firth and it is expected eventually to be able to supply 1.9 Giga watts to the national grid using tidal power which is constant and not weather related..
Other developments have been undertaken round the Scottish coastal waters but due to lack of funding are struggling.
In our usual short-sighted way it's take the quick buck today and forget about tomorrow.
Yes nuclear power generation is“green” as long as you don't include the storing of waste material and the possible chance of a catastrophic accident.
As a result of Chernobyl, fall out occurred in my area carried by high altitude winds some 1500 miles from the source of contamination.
My neighbour had a small flock of sheep and due to pollution of his land, 1km from me, he could not sell them for human consumption due to the level of Cesium taken up by the grass. The land was tested by MAF and it took 5 years before they lifted the ban. The grass in my back garden must have had the same level as his fields.
So. maybe nuclear power is not so green.
@ 28 Clyde15
Sep 28th, 2016 - 12:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have a keen interest in the engineering problems for both wind and tide “options”.
As far as I can see there has never been a successful tide system other than those centred on some form of 'lock' system. The 'nodding duck' (open sea) idea looked like it might work until an almighty gale blew the sea into a frenzy and ripped the ducks asunder.
According to the minister in charge of UTE (Useless Twats with Electricity) who is also a self proclaimed world class mathematician wind power is supposed to provide 95% of the power used in Uruguay.
Two minutes of checking on the UTE site disproves this completely: it's an average of 6.3%. In fairness though I have yet to see a windmill on fire here as happens regularly across the rest of the world.
I am surprised that you want to compare the old Soviet reactor system with modern ones. The Chernobyl disaster had as much to do with frightened Russian 'technicians' not wanting to shut down the reactor (they feared the Polit-Bureau) when everything started to alarm.
The delay cost them the loss of not only the hardware but also their lives, they were brave people as far as that went.
You do realize that Chernobyl has not been successfully dealt with and further problems are just a very few years away, don't you?
#29
Sep 28th, 2016 - 04:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Unlike you, I have no engineering background. I do read extensively on the matter of “new” technology and can only parrot what I have read.
The Pentland Firth tidal power project is detailed in the following
http://www.meygen.com/the-project/
Of course it is in it's infancy but if enough money were put into research and development it could be the breakthrough needed for a sustainable green source.
As for wind power see the following:-
”On Sunday 7 August 2016, a combination of high wind and low consumption caused more wind power generation (106%) than consumption in Scotland. Scottish wind turbines provided 39,545 MWh during the 24 hours of that date, while consumption was 37,202 MWh. It was the first time that measurements were available to confirme that fact. On average, year round, renewables contribute over half of Scotland’s energy.”
Of course, this was due to favourable circumstances BUT the power came through.
As I travel round locally, I keep seeing new areas where wind farms are being installed....at least 6 in a 30 mile radius of where I stay.
To me, nuclear power is not a long term answer. The costs are astronomic and the danger to the public living close to any of these sites if a leak or accident occurs could be extremely serious.
From what I have read about the French designed reactor is that there are still problems to solve before any construction can start.
Yes, Chernobyl was symptomatic of a system where the state can hush up anything it wants and has no great concern for the dangers to it's population.
/www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/sep/21/scottish-nuclear-leak-clean-up
Never mind Chernobyl, this happened here.
No doubt, in time and with money, nuclear fusion reactors will be viable and all our power worries will be over !
Looks like UKIP will be forming the opposition for the next few Parliament’s.
Sep 28th, 2016 - 04:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As Labour goes back to the 70s, infused with all kinds of other hard left party’s undercover.
The Labour party may well have lurched to the left, the result will be the country overall lurches to the right.
@ 29 ChrisR
Sep 28th, 2016 - 04:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The issue is one of power storage, renewables could be made to work, however not on command.
Hydroelectric is actually the only way of storing green energy.
Unless you have wind turbines (when the wind is blowing) pumping water up to mountain lakes, to drain down and generate electricity when needed.
Such as Dinorwig power station
#32
Sep 28th, 2016 - 07:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Cruachan power station in Argyle uses this method and has been in operation since 1965
@28 Clyde15
Sep 28th, 2016 - 07:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, it's a bigger problem in England where there are a lot more people and rather less coastline. But the problem with wind is storage, as Pogul-X says. Electricity must be generated when it's needed, and when there is less wind other power sources must be available to compensate, which usually means fossil fuels. If we could find better ways to store and transport electricity then renewables would be a lot more viable.
I agree that funding research into renewables is important and tidal does seem promising as it is at least reliable, but I think it would be irresponsible to plan based on undeveloped and untested technology; we need to ensure we can meet future needs with what we know works.
As for the danger, yes nuclear power is dangerous and the waste is a particular concern. But people often disregard the dangers of other methods; I believe hydroelectric actually has the highest death toll. After several dams collapsed in China during a typhoon, 171,000 people died and 11 million people lost their homes.
In any case, as I said we already buy a significant amount of electricity from France, mostly generated with nuclear power. The likely result of not investing in enough capacity for ourselves would be an increase in this, and if there was an accident at a nuclear power station in northern France then certainly southern England would be affected, and depending on the wind direction possibly northern England and Scotland too. So outsourcing your power generation to a neighbouring country is not necessarily safer.
#34
Sep 28th, 2016 - 10:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes I agree that storage is needed for wind AND solar power.
I listened to a program on the BBC about this problem and was pleased to hear that there are new developments in this field that could solve this problem within 10 years. It involved a new technology in batteries that could revolutionise the use of electric cars and storage of power produced by wind and wave power.
It sounded convincing but I am no scientist. I must assume they know what they are talking about.
The problem with batteries is that while electronics has come on leaps and bounds, battery technology has taken only relatively small steps.
Sep 29th, 2016 - 04:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Once someone does invent a reasonable battery/storage method, the carbon issue can start to go away.
Last I heard they were experimenting with Sodium, good results then it went quiet.
Clyde15
Sep 29th, 2016 - 06:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“No doubt, in time and with money, nuclear fusion reactors will be viable and all our power worries will be over !”
I can only hope so but it won't be in what I have left of my life, even if I lived to be 100.
Given the advances in materials capable of resisting the burst pressures used in hydrogen fuel cells storage systems it seems likely that this technology will eclipse even the latest battery advances for powering road vehicles and it is not far away. BMW have put a number of hydrogen 'filling' stations around Germany and are currently operating a 'proof of concept fleet'.
The big problem is convincing a relatively uninformed world that this won't result in more 'Hindenburg Disasters', even in severe collisions.
There will always be the need for niche projects like windmills and tidal projects near to estuaries but they are not even close to being serious solutions if / when oil does eventually go.
“The main barrier to a sustained reaction, other than the high cost of the electricity needed to heat the chamber, is finding a material that can withstand that much heat for more than a few seconds.”
Sep 29th, 2016 - 07:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0- Popular Mechanics
Mercedes Benz is very far ahead in their hydrogen fuel cell development.
I have ridden in one of their test vehicles - very impressive.
36. Which of these twelve presidents we have had since World War II would you consider the worst president: Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Senior, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama?
Sep 30th, 2016 - 02:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Tot
Harry Truman -
Dwight Eisenhower 1
John Kennedy -
Lyndon Johnson 3
Richard Nixon 13
Gerald Ford 2
Jimmy Carter 8
Ronald Reagan 3
George Bush Senior 2
Bill Clinton 3
George W. Bush 28
Barack Obama 33
DK/NA 4
www.qu.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2056
Several Labour MPs indicated they would accept the result,
Sep 30th, 2016 - 07:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0well I don't, I want another vote, and another vote, and I want them to keep having more and more until labour get the result that I want,
And the fact I don't even support them is irrelevant,
After all, Several Labour MPs indicated they would not accept Brexit the result,
blah blah blah,
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