Jeremy Corbyn receives Unison's backing for Labour leadership

[SueEllen]

Nope, you don't have to be a party member to cast your vote - mere £3 buys you the chance to influence history, and yet people are buyng millions of £2 lottery tickets every week ffs!

Hence lots of Tories are joining...

[DaveB]

You do in the leadership contest.

Don't u lol!!

Or r u assuming he's already won that?

Nope, you just have to be a registered supporter. Not the same thing. Costs £3 and you are in.

Labour Party Supporters – The Labour Party

[MicrosoftBob]

Or...

Jezza is elected, lights a fire under the Labour membership, we get 18 months of industrial unrest and protest against the government in the lead up to the next election and the tories are booted out as a result.

Just have to wait and see.

We get the union organised strikes and protests before every election, all that changes is Putin has one of his own running for PM

[MicrosoftBob]

Depends who the Tories select as leader.

If they select someone who looks normal they will win. If they select Gideon, who looks as weird as Milliband, then...

I've never understood why he choose a lesbian haircut, it does just make him look weird

[sirja]

I think it's interesting that we are now seeing how the generations that had to leave Uni with massive debts and practically no hope affording their own home, are starting to influence the political landscape. As usual the winners in any economic system will vote for things to stay as they are, however the number of 'losers' is starting to grow and their political influence will correspondingly increase. There is still a widespread feeling across the country that the fallout from the financial crises has fallen disproportionally on the lower paid and young. Corbyn's candidacy is feeding into that, just as the SNP have done in Scotland. Interesting times ahead that's for sure

[PurpleGorilla]

I think it's interesting that we are now seeing how the generations that had to leave Uni with massive debts and practically no hope affording their own home, are starting to influence the political landscape. As usual the winners in any economic system will vote for things to stay as they are, however the number of 'losers' is starting to grow and their political influence will correspondingly increase. There is still a widespread feeling across the country that the fallout from the financial crises has fallen disproportionally on the lower paid and young. Corbyn's candidacy is feeding into that, just as the SNP have done in Scotland. Interesting times ahead that's for sure

You've summed it up really well [emoji106]🏽

[DaveB]

I think it's interesting that we are now seeing how the generations that had to leave Uni with massive debts and practically no hope affording their own home, are starting to influence the political landscape. As usual the winners in any economic system will vote for things to stay as they are, however the number of 'losers' is starting to grow and their political influence will correspondingly increase. There is still a widespread feeling across the country that the fallout from the financial crises has fallen disproportionally on the lower paid and young. Corbyn's candidacy is feeding into that, just as the SNP have done in Scotland. Interesting times ahead that's for sure

This is the critical bit I think. Up until now there was really no great difference between Tories and Labour, they are all fighting over the same policies and there is very little to choose betwen them. The glatest example being Labour MP's being told to support a tory policy on cutting benefits. As a result much of the electorate feels disenfranchised. Corbyn is, for better or worse depending on your political views, offering a clear distinction between what the Tories are offering and what Labour could offer.

As I've said before, this is why the SNP did so well in Scotland. They didn't offer just another reheated "austerity lite" platform, they actually put forward real alternatives. As a result Labour were wiped out. Whether they follow through with them remains to be seen, but that can be said about any political party.

[DimPrawn]

This is the critical bit I think. Up until now there was really no great difference between Tories and Labour, they are all fighting over the same policies and there is very little to choose betwen them. The glatest example being Labour MP's being told to support a tory policy on cutting benefits. As a result much of the electorate feels disenfranchised. Corbyn is, for better or worse depending on your political views, offering a clear distinction between what the Tories are offering and what Labour could offer.

As I've said before, this is why the SNP did so well in Scotland. They didn't offer just another reheated "austerity lite" platform, they actually put forward real alternatives. As a result Labour were wiped out. Whether they follow through with them remains to be seen, but that can be said about any political party.

For our younger readers, maybe a look at what a Socialist Labour run Britain looked like before a certain Margaret Thatcher stepped in might be in order.

London's Science Museum's Making Life Worth Living photo exhibition captures the squalor of Britain's slums | Daily Mail Online

[DaveB]

For our younger readers, maybe a look at what a Socialist Labour run Britain looked like before a certain Margaret Thatcher stepped in might be in order.

London's Science Museum's Making Life Worth Living photo exhibition captures the squalor of Britain's slums | Daily Mail Online

And this is what it looked like after she did.

Poll tax riots revisited - in pictures | GNM archive | The Guardian

And Poverty and Inequality actually increased under Thatcher.

Poverty and inequality

Poverty went up under Thatcher, according to these figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In 1979, 13.4% of the population lived below 60% of median incomes before housing costs. By 1990, it had gone up to 22.2%, or 12.2m people, with huge rises in the mid-1980s.

With it came a huge rise in inequality. This shows the gini coefficient, which is the most common method of measuring inequality. Under gini, a score of one would be a completely unequal society; zero would be completely equal. Britain's gini score went up from 0.253 to 0.339 by the time Thatcher resigned.

[barrydidit]

For our younger readers, maybe a look at what a Socialist Labour run Britain looked like before a certain Margaret Thatcher stepped in might be in order.

London's Science Museum's Making Life Worth Living photo exhibition captures the squalor of Britain's slums | Daily Mail Online

Holes in the windows? Walls running with damp? Luxury! They were lucky to 'ave walls.