Dear striking British workers: F___ You! Love, the Labour Party

 From the desk of Keir "Patriotic Duty" Starmer:

“We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.

“However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded that frontbenchers including [parliamentary private secretaries] should not be on picket lines. 

 “Please speak to all the members of your team to remind them of this and confirm with me that you have done so.”

 So, yeah, there you have it.  Adulate the queen and to Hell with the revolting proles.  It's satirically hilarious but unfortunately true.  We must tug the forelock to the monarch, because she's a nice old bird who has been around forever; we must not do anything as vulgar as acknowledge the historical roots of the Labour PArty in the union movement or show solidarity with workers in general.

Because that might make Labour less electable and thus jeopardise the job security of Mr Starmer and his allies.  Lenin wrote about the aristocracy of labour - the privileged workers in the developed world who were bribed with the 'overflow' of profits from low wage exploitation in the developing world, and so politically neutered and inclined to support the ruling class.  Here we've got the aritstocracy of Labour - lead by a genuine knight, no less! - marshalling the supposed parliamentary champions of the workers against the workers.

And so much for freedom of conscience or association.  Apparently not a concern in the Starmerite Labour party.

Schadenfreude

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed the irony of Boris Johnson's desperate attempts to cling onto power.

I recall, almost immediately after Jermey Corbyn was elected, a bunch of memes based on the WW2 film Downfall, associating the mild manner Jermey Corbyn with Hitler in his final, lunatic delusional days, desperately trying to summon up armies that did not exist to resist the unstoppable hordes.

I am old enough to recall the aftermath of the 2010 election (after all I was blogging on a semi-regular basis then!) when people were gloating about how Gordon Brown would have to be dragged out of Downing Street, kicking and screaming, of course, in the end, Brown walked out of Downing Street having willingly pulled the plug on the Lib Dems attempts to try to wring concessions out of him he could not give.  

(His successor, of course, rather made a mess of things by making concessions he did not imagine he would ever have to give, only to find events have a way of blowing things up in your face, which is how we ended up with Brexit.  And Boris Johnson.  Cheers, Call Me Dave!)

Johnson, of course is a huge fanboy for Churchill, so it is bemusing to see him casting himself in the Hitler role, as his premiership enters in berserk bunker phase.

Go Away, You Ghastly Little Power Kissing Pipsqueak

 This makes me want to puke:

The Jubilee weekend isn’t just an opportunity for us to reflect on the 70 years since Her Majesty’s accession to the throne – although it will, of course, be that.

And it isn’t simply a chance for a country wearied by the extraordinary circumstances of the last few years to let its hair down – although it is, of course, your patriotic duty to do just that.

No, the first Platinum Jubilee in our nation’s history is a chance to celebrate a truly extraordinary Queen, to reflect on the difference she has made to her country and to consider what our Elizabethan age has meant – and what it will mean for our future.

This isn't Jacob Rees-Mogg or some other doublebarrelled myopic inadequate with a delusions as to wqhat century they exist in.  It's Keir Starmer the leader of the Labour Party and he's writing in The Telegraph.  The f%#king Telegraph.

The long process that began with Starmer's immediate post-election repudiation of the Corbynist legacy that he claimed to endorse while campaigning has been completed.  The Leader of the Labour Party is writing fawning pro-Royalist bilge in the most reactionary newspaper in the country and telling people how to be British, and implying that anyone who doesn't join him in an orgy of monarchist masturbation is unpatriotic.

There were so many signposts along the way - the refusal to support Rebecca Long-Bailey, the dishonest cliam that Corbyn's banishment was prompted by the EHRC report, every piece of 'alignment' with Johnson and the Conservative massif in the name of 'electability.'  Those were more important betrayals than this sickening piece of fawning he's penned.

But sometimes it's the symbolic moments that give the most clarity.