Owen To Unforseen Circumstances...

[Stableford]

He's cancelled his Labour party membership.  Is this a blessing or a curse for Kier & Co?  Personally I think he's an annoying and arrogant muppet, but there again, I'm not a Labour voter :)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68622127

 

 

[ladybirder]

Where do you think he'll go now?  Who will have him?

 

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Heading for utter oblivion in the Green party?

[Untitled]

Owen Jones is actually quite well read if you bother to pay attention to what he says...

[nicebloke1]

Can't say I dislike the guy, but he does tend to rabbit on a bit, so its not long before I hit the button. His bank account must be healthy because he lives on TV pannel media shows.  

[ichkeria]

"I've quoted Corbin's first wife before: "In all the years we were married, I never saw him read a book." I believe that would also apply to Owen Jones."

Google "books by Jeremy Corbyn" then "books by Owen Jones " 😄

There's no comparison: Jones is an entertaining writer, but ...

[Untitled]

Owen Jones really is a very "soft" leftie... people reacting as though he is some kind of deranged radical really do expose themselves as being ignorant about the left. 
 

i have noted it many times... lots of people have very strong opinions about the left despite little or no knowledge about what the left actually is

[ichkeria]

Owen Jones used to be quite sensible: a passionate believer in whatever and a very effective debater. However some of his recent pronouncements have led me to the conclusion I referred to above.

Corbyn is a complete ignoramus by comparison.

[Untitled]

"i liked him until he said something i disagreed with" lol

[ichkeria]

No that is not what I said

[rockyracoon]

Is he the one that throws his rattle out of the pram when challenged?

[ichkeria]

I remember an amusing tale he told of being propositioned by a Tory er member at I think it was a Tory conference one year.

[douglas9401]

Jones sparks Pavlovian reaction among the blues of the parish.

Nobody buys a round.

[tomus42]

Labour supporters. Never happy unless they're attacking the er, Labour Party.

[jno]

I think both parties are splintering, tomus, though you could argue that it's particularly inopportune for Labour.

[ichkeria]

Labour and the Tories have both been written off before. The truth is our voting sytem is not conducive to splintering: there have always been Labour and Tory members huffing off either because they think their party is too extreme, too tame or whatever. And in nearly all cases it's the end of their political careers, for good or bad. Owen Jones of course is not a politician, just a high profile (ex-)member of the party.

[fiveleaves]

Labour need people like Owen Jones. Dont agree with him on some things particularly his stance on the Gaza war.

The country needs to hear some left of centre, progressive voices to balance the hard right tosh of Sunak, Farage, Tice etc

[naomi24]

I wouldn't call people like him 'progressive'. They're more likely to drag the country back into the dark ages.

[Pegasus16]

"i have noted it many times... lots of people have very strong opinions about the left despite little or no knowledge about what the left actually is"

Hi, what actually is the left??

[Untitled]

"the left" is an extremely broad political tradition which at its simplest seeks to disestablish hierarchy. it includes a number of different philosophies which differ between them enormously on what exactly needs to be abolished and how to do it. the right by contrast tends to believe that hierarchy is part of nature and that attempts to work against it are destructive or futile. 
 

Owen Jones is a democratic socialist. in his case he believes that too much power is concentrated in the hands of the extremely wealthy and that the best way to counteract that is with a strong state using wealth taxes imposed by democratic and parliamentary means... he considers that the only way to rescue public services and the common infrastructure of the UK. he does not believe in the overthrow of the state as some leftists do and he is not a marxist-leninist... nor does he share the utopian ideal of communists that the state will eventually disappear once all class enemies have been defeated... he effectively wants to restore the postwar state and strong trade unions and does not think the failure of that project in the 1970s would necessarily be repeated. like i say he really is a very soft leftie... and people who find him extreme expose themselves as people who do not have much contact with ideas different to their own

[Pegasus16]

Thanks for your reply Untitled.