Remain silent for the sake of "unity"?

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/in-this-24-hour-media-age-a-divided-party-will-always-damage-itself-a6692961.html

The outcry over John McDonnell’s "U-turn" reflects a potential gulf between sections of the PLP and the Labour leader and the PLP and the party membership.

The media obsession with splits and divisions within the Labour Party continues unabated. The gulf between sections of the PLP and the Labour leader and the PLP and the party membership, provides the media and television, with the opportunity to emphasise, exaggerate and exploit (usually in support of their Conservative patrons) a debate which has been taking place for decades.

Since the 1908's there have always been the Tristram Hunts, Liz Kendalls, Ben Bradshaw's and others going back to the Shirley Williams, David Owen's and the Roy Jenkins, who share the same view. They believe that they alone have the monopoly of ideas, opinions, policies and vision of the direction that the party should be moving in and that they must be the leaders and guiding lights of the party, its membership and party management. Any criticism of their ideas and any dissent amongst others within the PLP and horror of horrors amongst the membership of the party generally, must be suppressed in the interests of "unity" because they are always right and to disagree or propose alternative ideas causes splits and division within the party. It is always those who disagree with them who cause the divisions.
What then should people such as I do when faced with this dilemma. Either I remain silent and allow the party to be dragged off in a direction that I believe to be wrong for the party and wrong for the country or I speak and argue for the policies which I believe in and be branded by the "other side", as a trouble maker intent on splitting the party?
I rejoined the Labour party in June of this year, having previously been a CLP chair, Borough Councillor, Leader of Council and Parliamentary Candidate. It was not I who had left the party some years ago, it was the party which had left me, as Labour drifted further and further to the political "right". The people of this country had been deserted by their traditional representatives in the House of Commons, the party members had been deserted by the "establishment" of the party structure and the elitist PLP. Working people, the Trade Union movement, the sick and disabled, the homeless and those in sub standard housing conditions, the unemployed and other individuals reliant on welfare and/or benefits, had been effectively abandoned to the "Tory" policies of the Labour governments, the excesses of the Conservatives in government and the vagaries of "the markets" and the exploitative "bankers".

Jeremy Corbyn was elected on a tidal wave of support, not only from the many thousands of people who joined or rejoined the party, but also with huge support from the public and those who attended his public meeting in their thousands queuing "around the block" to get in. Since the election, the media and press have been conducting a scurrilous campaign to vilify and discredit Corbyn and the new leadership at every turn and in this they have been supported and encouraged by certain members of the Parliamentary Labour Party. I again ask the question. Should I (and others who may believe as I do), remain silent and allow our party to be destroyed again, or do I speak out and accept that I may be accused of "splitting the party"?

Northern Ireland and Brexit. The return of "The Troubles"

Northern Ireland: police attacked in another night of disturbances | Northern Ireland | The Guardian When the "Brexit" debate was still filling our newspapers and our television screens, readers may remember why I had changed my mind since voting to leave at the referendum vote. Apart from the economic arguments, which had become crystal clear after peeling away all the lies and misrepresentations trotted out by Bozo Boris and his "Get Brexit Done" conspirators, there was always the problem of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Would it be possible to have a border between the European Union and the United Kingdom where people, goods and services could pass freely between the two nations without customs restrictions, tariffs, duties and all the other formalities? Would it be possible to have one part of the United Kingdom treated differently from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly when Scotland for example had voted overwhe...

The writing on the wall

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-government-zero-hour-contract-ban-latest-a9257281.html?fbclid=IwAR0OW6qhoVnO9MVH-E9ruKFLnL_V3NQ5PMpYEkGGHEXskJxkAsrr2UJjRIs Two-thirds of voters want Boris Johnson ‘s government to ban zero-hours contracts, a poll has found. There will be many people over the coming months and years who will tell the "pollsters" that something should be done about the homeless, or the costs of electric, gas and water, or about the costs of public transport, or the failing (and privatised) NHS, or the excessive profits and tax avoidance of large corporations. etc. To all those I say, that if you did not vote Labour then you have only yourselves to blame and you must bear the consequences of your actions. Johnson a nd his sycophant cronies have been given a blank cheque to do as they please and sell off vast portions of the British economy to the Americans, (the takeover of British defence giant Cobham by a US private equi...

Greed and envy are good says Boris Johnson.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/embrace-culture-of-greed-says-boris-johnson-8968276.html Embrace culture of greed, says Boris Johnson Boris Johnson. "I stress – I don't believe that economic equality is possible; indeed some measure of inequality is essential for the spirit of envy and keeping up with the Joneses that is, like greed, a valuable spur to economic activity." Johnson delivering the annual Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, Wednesday 27th November 2013 Boris Johnson seeks to emulate Thatcher. He appeals to the evil side of the "nasty" party, for a society where greed is good, where selfishness is encouraged, where division amongst people by envy and status is championed as a proper objective and where the excesses of business and government are regarded as appropriate and right for the advancement of the few at the expense of the many. Johnson is an evil man with evil intent...

Agenda 2019

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