That Option No Longer Exists

A long awaited return, as the Labour leadership have now finally said something we can talk about. Although they're very keen we don't talk about that.

We do talk about us not being able to talk, and also:

Whether Sir Keith's response to the Tory handling of Covid is the right way.

Why Jon shouldn't leave the party

Becoming a branch delegate as a tiny way to influence things.

We rock down to forensic PMQs, where Keir Starmer got a letter from the government the other day, opened it and read it… is he a sucker? Adam thinks Sir Haircut’s playing a long game, can Jon agree constructively where he’s right and challenge where there are gaps.

Is the NHS the wedge issue for Labour that we always seem to think it is. Is it too big to be conceived to be in danger?

As we pass the date of the 2020 election that should have been - will Johnson or Starmer make it to 2024?

And some navel gazing: a month since the Labour report - have we any confidence that the truth will be allowed out?

Recorded as part of a mega-session a few days ago, while the Prime Minister's health was still deterioating rather than merely his personality and competence (so we couldn't be as rude about him as he likely deserves), we instead kept on topic (Labour) and tackled the meaning of the new Shadow Cabinet.

Interestingly, after "Who are the members of the Shadow Cabinent," Google's next assumed question is "What is the point of the shadow cabinet?"

Well, for us (and especially Jon) it gives us a chance to determine the future policy direction of the Labour Party. The choices made by Kier (were they his choices?) are revealing (or are they?). Listen and you will know.

From that, in just a few minutes of chat, we determine when, exactly, the planet will end. Give or take. And, of course, whether there is train-travelling future for Dianne Abbot or Richard Burgon.

Links

The Shadow Cabinet: See their faces on the Labour site

See why Adam took so long to edit this: @Covid Street Photography Project

Since we recorded...

It seems Ed Miliband is still podcasting, for now (discussed in the episode).

The part-time prime minister has been in ICU and is now out using convalescense as an excuse. No one has explained his lack of attention to detail before that date.

An RAF plane going to Turkey (or not) has taken up a lot of media coverage.

Locked down, no-one can leave. Oh, how we wish that was the membership of the Labour party as the inevitable post-leadership election exodus takes place. Or does it?

Jon is placing the leadership election as an event worse than coronavirus, but not as bad as 12 December 2019. Adam thinks thr party has come back to him.

What is the legacy of five years of supposed left hegemony, is it positive?

And how much does Adam give the Corbyn era out of ten?

More coughing, though fewer answers than that edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (and which ones are funding Sir Keir)?

And why, with all the toilet roll panic buying we're glad we had those posters of Sir Keir through the post.

Jon and Adam clash, comradely, on the leadership election (again…well, it does go on), and on open selection. We speculate about just who is funding Keir Starmer, and how you're meant to sell the Green New Deal.

But mainly we spend our self-isolation telling each other why it is impossible to draw conslusions from local meetings - when no-one is able to really understand what's going on in them.

It's a trickly time in the Labour Leadership. It really seems to have the potential to drag on, but all the candidates have been 'personally' texting Adam, even getting their buddies to give him a call.

They don't give a flying SMS about Jon though. Has his choice of Twitter icon spared him from a deluge of internal party marketing or does the keeper of the database simply not believe Jon has something as sophisticated as a cellular telephone. They are a bit capitalist, after all.

After a quick analysis of Adam's inbox, we look at the campaign to destroy the BBC – is it a distraction from destroying the economy, the NHS, or an essential elimination of an evil part of the capitalist status quo.

Oh, and find out what happens if you lick the window of Tottenham Ikea.

Clever or Stupid: EU Associate Citizenship, as promoted by Sadiq Khan.

It's AGM season, and Adam went off to his first branch meeting since re-joining. Did he stay awake, or end up Chair?

Do the nominations for leaderhip coming out of the CLPs have anything to say about the likely final result?

Is the fake Keir Starmer running for leader?

Is Liam Byrne really the grassroots of socialism in the Midlands?

Are the people in the loaded Brexit vox pops clever or stupid?

We get to the end of none of these questions.

To be clear, we're not only worried about the Hammers; the real question is can labour ever win back the men (and it is mostly men) from the all-seater terraces?

We also don't manage to completely ignore the leadership debate, with Jon having made his choice and having a lot of thoughts on a certain drop out. Why does Jon dislike fellow Labour member Jess Philips so much?

Is it a good idea for a party to have so much internal 'debate'?

It's always darkest before the dawn: a statement that is both factually untrue and unrepresentative of a January which seems to be dark inside and outside of the Labour party. Our tellys have gone dark too as there's no point watching.

With Adam back in the tent pissing everywhere, and both being part of the selectorate for the leadership we propose that:

the labour leadership election is important not so much for the Labour Party, but for the wider social movement. Because a left-led Labour is by necessity the focus for action on social justice and climate change - both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary. (Jon)

and

that Keir Starmer is great. (Adam)

Yes, it's a question of leadership, of the way forward and whether we can remember that Lisa Nandy exists.

Then we ask just what's the point of having a deputy leader?

And also does the option of being in 'the resistance' still exist? And should it?

Just how "I told you so" will Adam get, given that he was predicting a Tory majority and blaming Jeremy Corbyn?

Just how well did Adam's Renew party do?

Adam and Jon are united in defeat. Who or what will they blame? And what now for centre left and Corbynite left?