Andy Burnham has won a huge victory for Labour in the Makerfield byelection, opening up the path for him to challenge Keir Starmer for the party leadership and to become the UK’s next prime minister.
  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    2 个月前

    I bet this headline hits VERY different to anyone who hasn’t paid attention for the last couple/few years to know about Reform the party.

    Without that context, he kinda sounds like a villain from a 1930s play 😄

    • milkisklim@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 个月前

      There was a cult in the American sitcom Parks and Rec called the reasonablists. They were named as such because if you disagreed with them, that would make you seem unreasonable. I feel Reform is a similar trap.

      • TheUnicornOfPerfidy@feddit.ukEnglish
        0·
        2 个月前

        The name of Reform has always made me think of this too! You may as well call your party Nice Things. “Do you stand against Nice Things.” “See this is why we don’t have Nice Things.”

        • Monzcarro@feddit.ukEnglish
          0·
          2 个月前

          I heard someone pronounce it RE-form, the way you’d say reformed ham. This is now my preferred pronunciation for the reasons above.

          • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.ukEnglish
            0·
            2 个月前

            What does RE-FORM stand for anyway?

            Is it:
            Racists
            Economic Fraudsters
            Oligarchs
            Rapists
            Morons

            or

            Raping
            England
            For
            Oligarch’s
            Russian
            Money

            or

            Robbing
            England’s
            Future
            Over
            Rape
            Movies

            or

            Ruining
            Earth’s
            Future
            Over
            Risky
            Money

            or other?

  • Llamatron@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 个月前

    So much mega-important, world changing shit going on and we have this media stoked in-fighting nonsense going on.

    Fucking politics man.

      • Apepollo11@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 个月前

        Got to echo this.

        Unlike the low-stakes infighting nonsense that we often have, this is really important.

        Multiple polls have shown that not only is Andy Burnham much more popular than Starmer (big surprise, who isn’t?), but that he’s more popular than Farage. And that is a big deal, because almost nobody else is.

        He’s an attractive choice for the left, and he’s attractive for Northerners who want change - two camps which Starmer has well and truly lost.

          • Apepollo11@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 个月前

            I meant the general population, really.

            I live in a place where, realistically, the next MP is going to be Labour or Reform. I’m a member of the Green Party, but I’d vote Labour if Burnham was leading it. I wouldn’t at the moment.

            • zedcell@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
              0·
              2 个月前

              Burnham will dance to the same Labour Together and Labour Friends of Israel tune, just like Starmer and Streeting. The person who stepped down for him was a parachuted Labour Together think tank leader, and Burnham has refused to call the genocide in Palestine a genocide. He has committed to the bizarre liberal “fiscal rules”, he has committed to Shabana Mahmood’s home office policies.

              He will be the same shit with a slightly different fragrance.

          • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.ukEnglish
            0·
            2 个月前

            Not really… but I bet there’s quite a lot who’ll simply follow the current party line, so if the Labour leader were to steer things leftwards towards the centre (or ideally past it), many of them would follow it.

            • Tenebris Nox@feddit.ukEnglish
              0·
              2 个月前

              Starmer stood for Labour leadership on a considerably lefter platform than the vague stuff Burnham’s been saying. Burnham as PM isn’t going to change Labour’s current policies. He might be better at campaigning. When people realise that nothing’s going to change, helped by the rightwing press, they’ll turn on him too.

    • Skua@kbin.earth
      0·
      2 个月前

      This is getting reported much more than the other by-elections that happened specifically because this one is quite likely to bring about a significant change in the UK’s national politics

  • atro_city@fedia.io
    0·
    2 个月前

    Gary called it and is hopeful that we might get wealth taxes (video). Let’s hope that Labour won’t be absolute tits on the issue.

  • insubstantialpageant@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    2 个月前

    Tactical voting, if continued by the left, is going to pull the Overton window strongly leftwards, and will ensure right wing parties have an extremely difficult time getting into power